The Twisted Case of Lynn Loud
by Outsider316
Summary: Three weeks before Lynn and Lincoln's odd disappearance, Lucy secretly begins to document Lynn's newfound strange behavior, while in the present, tries her hardest to keep her family and a determined detective from digging too deep. Things change when another family member gets involved in the same level as Lucy.
1. Hidden

_Ta_ _boo: A social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing._

* * *

The lamp that hangs to its only chain, hooked onto the ceiling, dangles around, almsot going unnoticed by the goth girl. Its light that it was created to give life to had been nearly short circuiting, dying as it sparkles on and off, with the faint sound that, if enhanced, would sound something like a motel's vacancy neon sign.

Lucy Loud sits at one end of the interrogation room, in between both of her parents. The table was that of a long, metallic brand that perfectly fit into the blue room in which it felt to Lucy like a scene from a supernatural horror movie that she would enjoy. In fact, she would be enjoying it at this second, if not for the serious and dangerous occasion the three had come for.

Rita Loud, the heavily concerned mother, taps nervously onto the table, making clanking sounds with her fingernails that only mildly irritating the goth. She and Lynn Loud Sr., the hard working father of the two missing kids, were more openly worried about the ongoing events while Lucy maintained her gloomy frown.

There was no telling what she was feeling at the second, but she wasn't here to brood at all. No, she wanted to help her sister Lynn and save Lincoln, whichever was more possible.

Lucy observes the cracked floor while the three wait for their interrogator, or interrogators. She notices that there were cracks that measly decorated the light blue floor, adding gray polkadots into the painting that was the floor.

Finally, the knob twitches and turns, before swinging open. In comes the only single man, in a long brown coat that awfully seems like a trench coat. His black pants are almost concealed underneath it. He, sporting short blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, holds a yellow folder, full with enough sheets to sat it was a packet. "Good evening, Loud family, is it?"

Lynn Sr. and Rita nod in an untimed fashion, giving the detective the signal to sit down.

The detective looked to be in his 40s at most, with wrinkles already beginning to form around his face. The lines were clear on his forehead. He moves a cup of warm coffee that he left there before the Louds were brought in, and he groans. "Damn, I hate cold joe," he mutters under his breath. He sets down the folder, and causally opens it up, to slide several of the sheets around the table.

The one he stared at was a statement. "Which one of you is Lucy Loud?"

The goth raises her hand with no hesitation. "I am, sir," she complies.

"And, so, you are the one who began to record the odd behavior your sister, uhhh..." He squinted at the sheet. Curse these kids and their horrible penmanship. "...Lynn, was exhibiting?"

"Yes, sir. I've noted them all down in a journal I bought immediately after I noticed it," she answers.

The detective begins to skim through the rest of the sheets, some of which were entries of said journal. ""I'm not going to lie here folks, but..."

The parents prepare for the worst to hear, and grow pale with such fright. "But what?" Rita asks.

"Lucy, who, other than you, has read the contents of the journal?"

"My parents, but only after... After Lynn and Lincoln disappeared," she answers with a sudden emotion. It was only then that she feels the cool temperature in the room. She shakes a little at the chilly sensation, wondering what to say.

"So, you told them too late, is that what I'm inferring here?" The detective takes a small sip from his coffee.

"Yes, I did, sir," Lucy admits, now feeling more responsible than she believed she originally was.

"It's understandable. You believed Lynn needed help, and so, what, you made it your mission to try so? That's what I'm getting at here."

"If that's the simplified version, then yes, correct," she utters in her usual tone.

"Lucy, do you know why you're here?" It was a rhetorical question for him, but he had to know if she suspects the true reason she was asked to come to the station.

"Because of my journal, sir. It's the only evidence that such things took place around me," the goth replies.

"How close were you to Lymn, if I may ask?"

"She and I shared a room, so we were close enough, but not on the same level as having mutual things in common."

"Uhhh, detective," Lynn Sr. began, "I-If I may-"

"You may address me as Detective Antonucci," the middle aged man states.

"Have there been any leads with all the evidence presented at hand? Does anything here suggest where my two kids are?"

Detective Antonucci begins to form his own ideas in the case. It was odd that a very young girl had done her initial, private investigation by herself, just three weeks before the vanishing that assembled them here today. "No, not at all, and that's why you, Lucy, are going to try and enlighten me in that area."

Lucy prepared for the mind games she anticipated before coming. She had to carefully choose her words while holding back what no one needed to know and hear, which was the whole reason why this was happening. She didn't sweat or tremble at the fact she had to hide. Hell, she displayed no clear sign of nervousness that would suggest she wasn't being honest. "I don't know what you want me to say," Lucy says, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "I only wrote what I've observed, mixed with my feelings on the matter of course."

"Yes, I can see that," he contorted bluntly. "But it's a bit cryptic, if I'm to be honest. You didn't fill the notebook, so there weren't too many little strange events around her, huh?"

Lucy sees through the act.

"...Or, did you not write them _all_ down?" The professional detective waited for a glitch in Lucy's expression or body movement, which he believed would come to light.

"Detective Antonucci," Rita sat up, aggravated. "What are you implying?"

"It could very well be that this young lady is not being fully honest here," Antonucci responded with no restraint.

"That is absolute horsesh-" Rita starts to yell.

"Whoa now, honey!" Lynn Sr. rises from his chair to calm his distraught wife. "Easy breaths, just like yoga, darling. Let's not antagonize anyone today, shall we?"

Rita returned her unstable storm back to steady weather in the comforts of her mind. "Sorry, it's- It's been hard for us, and all I want is for my two babies to be back home."

Lynn Sr. dragged his chair next to her, making a horrid scraping sound that broke the moment's silence. The detective cleared his throat and continued. "I've not much to go on, but I truly feel like there's something that needs to be shared. Lucy..."

The goth couldn't go there, no matter what. Reverse psychology, mind games, or touchy feely mush were gonna be played here.

"If there is anything that must be thrown into our midst, say it now. This isn't a game, you know. This is very serious. Every little detail can possibly help with the current situation, young lady."

"With all due respect, detective, our girl knows just as much as you do. I don't see the reason why she'd hold back critical information at a time like this," says the father in a serious tone, while rubbing his hurt wife's shoulders gently.

"As the story goes, the house goes searched, and no evidence, not even texts of the phones the two left behind, was there for us, until you come here with this. This..." He opens his trench coat to reveal the actual gray journal and sets in above one of the entry copies and pats it. "See, you did know something, and we were to believe this was nothing more than a simple duo runaway case. But this here, this suggests something else in play, and you're telling me you know only what's written in this book? I'm getting skeptical here."

"That's the truth. All that I've seen and heard from Lynn is all noted in there," Lucy adds.

"Young lady, it should be known that I've been on the force for over fifteen years. My nose is twitching with what you're trying to sell me, but then again, I'm not getting any younger, so maybe it's just me." He clears his throat like he did not just accuse the goth of being a withholder. "In any case, there have been no clear leads as of yet. Sir, ma'am, we're doing our best we can to get these two kids back to you as soon as possible."

"Yes, we understand that," Rita spoke softly. "But is there nothing more we can do at the moment?"

"Well," Antonucci ponders, "You can put out flyers, tell close friends and family, whatever you can to get the word out."

Lucy gave herself a mental pat on the back, relieved that she wasn't up against something of a battle for maintaining the treasure chest of secrets underneath the ocean.

She was eager to leave now before anything else would feel off or something was able to be deduced. In the actual gray journal, there was something that could only lead to Lucy being guilty for some reason, which she didn't need to actually have anyone notice. "So, may I have my journal back, or-"

"Lucy!" Lynn Sr. scolds her, sensing the lack of respect and seriousness that was due to the detective.

"Haha, you're quite something, despite being a kiddo," he chuckles, taking another sip from his coffee. "Since we've taken the liberty to already duplicate the entries of the journal, we won't be needing this." Antonucci slides the journal to Lucy, who doesn't bother to take it from the table.

"Suppose I knew something..." Lucy keeps her eyes on him, locking on with seriousness. "If I knew something, would I be put under arrest?"

He ponders on what to say, honestly a little stumped at the question. The girl expressed no visible fear, and that, to him, would prove to be problematic if his gut feeling was actually correct. "Hmmm," the quiet detective murmus, "No, under the circumstances, we wouldn't be able to hold you for that. Lest you forget, you're a minor anyways. But I would strongly advise that you not keep anything to yourself in such a situation."

She laughs with no emotion inside of her gloomy mind, certain that she had bested him in this first battle of many, which she didn't write out of the question.

"Well, I guess that's all for now. We are trying really hard to find your missing kids, so in the meantime," Antonucci sits up and makes his way to the exit. He opens the door and holds it. "Just try to get word around, and hope for the better."

Rita was fairly frustrated that there seemed no shed of bright light to show for them, or the other members of their big family. She is the first to dash out, and Lynn Sr. only follows to not stress and worry his dear wife. Little Lucy remains in place, in no rush to get out of the interrogation room.

The stone-faced detective developed some eerie chills when it felt like the strange goth girl was staring deep into his soul. "Okay, young lady, out you go. I have some very important business to attend to. Darn all this paperwork..."

"Sure thing..." She croaks out with her dark, soft voice, sending the detective further into the creeped out sensation worse than the heebie jeebies. Lucy finally takes her journal from the cold table and strodes calmly out. An unsuspecting gust of wind meets the detective's face as she does so, making him nearly jump from his spot.

The feeling that was there, the very one where he felt something was being hidden by her, and mixed with her dark personality, was only adding to his suspicion. "Hmmm... Tread carefully, little one," he whispers after a long moment of silence.

Lucy didn't need a snoop, or anyone closing in for that matter, on the big, dark truth behind the disappearance of the two older siblings everyone was on edge or worried about.

Would it make a difference that she told them the rest that she had uncovered, courtesy of Lynn's insanity? And how it wasn't marked down on the journal? She was extraordinarily grateful she chose not to in case the damn thing was ever found by the others, but she wasn't counting on Lynn to make a move of her own, which led to quite a mess.

She keeps quiet in the ride back home, unsure of whatever was gonna happen next. Of course, she'd have already anticipated Lori gathering the others for the inevitable emergency meeting with the topic of what went down at the station. At this point, everyone knew about the journal, which would return as the main question the meeting would bring about.

"Lucy, honey," Rita speaks. "Did..." She ponders back at the detective's words, now questioning what he was closely selling. "You did tell him everything, didn't you?"

The goth stares out, watching a piece of the world pass by her, minding its own business.

Somewhere out there, somewhere not too far away, were her two siblings, and one of them was her close roommate, whom she was beginning to miss. She didn't hear her mother calling out, wandering deep into a secret world where shadows and whispers were the most powerful things there. Lucy's thoughts echoes throughout, only hearing herself over and over.

She wasn't sure if she had to feel bad, because in truth, there was lack of empathy the others had no problem in expressing; she was guilty because she didn't feel guilty.

But, then, there was that thing about Lynn that she grew accustom to, and from that, she wasn't fully against playing keep-away.

"Lucy?" The concerned mother looks through the mirror and sees Lucy looking off into the distance, making her wonder what she was thinking about in that moment. "Honey?"

 **Three Weeks Earlier**

"Honey?"

Lucy reads her recent poem that she had just finished writing. She, sitting alone in the kitchen, up until Lynn came in, finally raises her head and sees Lynn holding a jar of honey. "I said no, Lynn, I don't want a honey sandwich. And also, combining that with barbecue sauce is disgusting."

"Suit yourself, duchess," she shrugs. "Anyways..."

"What?" Lucy says bluntly.

"There's something I'd like to show you, if you're done with your moody poetry."

"I have no interest in another martial arts movie marathon," Lucy grunts.

"What? No, that's next week, but it's not that. Now..." Lynn prepares her own plate with the hybrid sandwich. She checks the time on her phone, and then takes Lucy by her hand.

"Hey, don't rip my arm off," the goth cries out, leaving her book in the kitchen. "Where are we going?"

Lynn leads her younger sister upstairs and into their room. "We have to be sneaky about this..."

"Sneaky? About what?"

Lynn points up to the vent opening, implying they were going in.

"We spying?" Lucy asks.

"Not spying, but witnessing," Lynn answers with a goofy smile. "Trust me, it's nothing bad."

Lynn helps Lucy up once she makes a jump on the edge and climbs in.

By the way it sounded to Lucy, she assumes it was possibly watching Luan tell herself jokes, or Leni writing in her diary, or even Luna trying out clothes- and ripping them. Not that she'd ever seen these before, but they were not of her concern or interest.

"What exactly is this? What are we watching?"

Lynn puts a finger to her lips, shushing the curious goth. She takes lead and begins crawling through the ventilation system. Lucy has no choice but to follow along in wonder.

Lynn stops right at Lincoln's room, recognized by Lucy.

"What are we doing here?"

Lynn peeps through the shaft, snickering ominously below. "Here, look," she taps softly on the shaft. "Check it out."

Below them, their only brother with a rare set of white hair, was shirtless and laying in bed. Something underneath the cover that concealed the lower half of his body up and down violently, and his face expression reads a totally different vibe that Lucy had never seen, not at this level at least. He was emitting sounds of pleasure as well.

"What- What is he doing?"

"Hehe," the athlete giggles, "It's called masturbation. He's thinking about something so..." She loses her words, and proceeds to bite her bottom lip.

"So what?"

"...D-Dreamy," Lynn answers shakily. Her face goes red as they continue to spectate this bizarre scenery Lincoln took part in.

"Master... What?" Lucy broke away from staring and noticed how intrigued and locked on to the show Lynn seemed to be. "I don't like this..."

"Well, I do. You can go away now..." Lynn tells her younger sister, still watching Lincoln fap with a joyous smile.

"Well, alright then..." Lucy crawls away slowly, and at that moment, she was a little creeped out that Lynn had probably been watching Lincoln for quite some time. Was she peeping on anyone else? If that was the case, why did she bother to indirectly imply that to Lucy? And why did she want to show this to her? What exactly was on Lynn's mind?

Lucy climbs down to her room and promptly exits to visit Lincoln. She knocks firmly, and hears a girly shriek that could only be his own. "Hang on one second!"

Lucy laughs with no smile, and out comes Lincoln, who hadn't placed his orange shirt correctly. The effort was painfully obvious. "I heard noises, are you okay?"

He stutters, looking back at his bed. "Oh, uh, yeah, I was uh... Just cleaning. Moving stuff around is a struggle, you know?"

"You should ask Lynn for help," Lucy answers. She laughs more higher in her dark mind.

"Hmm, yeah, I guess," Lincoln agrees. "Thanks."

Before Lincoln shuts the door, Lucy catches glimpse of Lynn's eyes peering through the shaft, with an alarmed and serious read.

Whatever was going on, this was the place and time it would begin slowly. And Lucy felt it, almost like a sixth sense, if she didn't have any.

* * *

 **AN: So, I'm now officially the fic-runner, taking over from Captain Darko's hands. Yes, this was passed down to me, and I'm hopeful I can do just as good a decent job as he has in his works. I'm letting the narrative maintain its present tense, which I've gotta say I find tricky, so there may be errors or something off around this fic, but I'll try it that way to not fully change what I've reread so far in the original source.**

 **Anyhoo, happy 2018.**


	2. Nevermore

**Three Weeks Earlier**

Lucy turns over in her bed, in the dead of night. The room grows menacing and ominous as she props open her eyes. She had not been able to sleep yet, due to that weird, wiggly Lincoln moment she was exposed to, courtesy of her older jock sister.

It wasn't just that that kept her up, but also that Lynn seemed to be excited while watching it happen. Menstruation, was it? It was a long word that Lucy had trouble remembering, and as of yet, she felt that might've not been the right one.

Whatever the case, it surely was an odd spectacle that Lynn had never shown interest in before. That, and it was creepy. Not on Lucy's levels, but a different type of creepy. One she was personally unfamiliar with... Until now.

Lynn notices the regularly scheduled sighs have gone mysteriously. "Luce? Lucy?" Lynn turns to her side, and reaches out for a nearby ball she could grab from underneath the bed. "What's up?"

Lucy is hit with what she realizes is a tennis ball, right on her noggin. "Ow!"

"Oh, you're awake," Lynn realizes. "I didn't think you were. Where's the sighing I'm used to? Something wrong?" Lynn was eager to get some sleep, and now a tad bit curious to know the source of the lack of Lucy's sad wails.

"It's nothing," Lucy relieves. "I'm just thinking..."

"Oh, well, can you sleep on it? It feels out of place when you don't sigh."

Lucy tilts herself toward Lynn's direction, despite it being pitch black to see. "Oh, I guess. I've never known it was music to your ears."

The goth falls silent, save for her usual state now. Once she gives off her regular sighs, Lynn lets off one of her own, but in a different tone.

"Goodnight," she calls through the darkness.

 **Morning**

Lucy munches slowly on her extra well done scrambled egg, with a blackened piece of toast as well. She makes an unintentional clanking sound as she cuts the scrambled egg with her fork, minding her own business.

The kiddie table was more quiet this time; the twins weren't arguing over their food, and Lisa was being picky on her selection of what had or hadn't sufficient protein and other nutritional compounds. It was only Lily who was giggling away, playing with her food.

It felt strange, but not too out of Lucy's own comfort zone. Not like last night's events, which had almost left from the records of her mind. Lincoln hadn't shown up yet, a mere funny coincidence that could've meant something. She gives it no serious thought, however, and keep eating her breakfast in peace.

Behind her, Lynn gobbles down her own breakfast, which was twice the plate Lucy had, added with a protein shake, consisting of various veggies and whatnot.

"Can you literally not?" Lori retorts in a disgusted manner.

"That's what I call fast food!" Luan jokes, earning herself a kick from Luna.

"Yeah, dude, slow down, it's not a contest," Luna adds.

"I do some exercises before class. Now, hurry up, I don't wanna get there just in time!"

The other four older Louds disregard the athlete, and continue to eat without a word. Lynn starts to grow a little annoyed, until Lincoln finally steps foot into the kitchen.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm a bit late," he apologizes.

Lynn nearly coughs, but manages to keep her food in her mouth.

"Food's on the table, twerp," Lori notifies without looking up.

Lincoln moves and takes his seat besides Lucy, and starts cutting up his scrambled egg. "Good morning, guys," he greets.

"Morning, Lincy," the twins answer.

"Salutations, dear sibling," Lisa lisps.

Lincoln begins to eat away right before Lucy just finishes up. She turns and sighs to him, the dark version of her welcoming of the day.

Lincoln was used to it, and allows it from her.

Lucy picks up her platter and moves from her seat. She noticed Lynn giving off googly eyes at Lincoln as the goth places the dirty plate snd utensil to the sink.

 _Freaky..._

Lucy wonders what this staring meant. It was giving off a bad odor, and that was certain. She turns around to see Lynn still peeping at their white haired brother.

"Hey, Lynn?" She intentionally asks.

The athlete stumbles her head automatically to the source of the summoning voice. "Oh, wha-?" She seems spooked and a little red, but barely visible. "Yeah?"

The other four look up to both Lynn and Lucy, puzzled.

"Can you help me with something?" Lucy grows more suspiciously curious, and goes on to work some cover. "In our room."

"Oh?" Lynn raises an eyebrow, wondering what Lucy needs help with. "Alright, I'll be right there."

"Make it fast, we're leaving as soon as we're done," Lori warns, motivating Lynn to chug down the last of her breakfast and scurried off with the goth away from the kitchen. "Hey, pick up your-!" Lori groans, clearly bothered.

"Alright," Lynn cracks her knuckles just outside of their room. "Am I moving your coffin? Great! I could use a challenge."

"Actually," the soft speaking goth starts, "It's just a question."

Lynn's face portrays a second of disappointment before switching to a confused face. "What is it?" She crosses her arms, swaying her hips to that of an impatient and angry popular girl's trademakr stance.

"Yesterday, why did you show me? What was interesting about... You know, Lincoln, and whatever he was doing?"

The corners of Lynn's mouth bend out of shape, almost like she wants to smile. Seconds pass before she forces herself to snap out of her necessity to do so and speaks. "Well, uhhh, I thought it'd be interesting to see it-"

"Well, I'm wondering why. I know that's peeping, Lynn, it's not exactly right."

Lynn coughs slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, officer. I didn't know it was illegal."

"If I can ask... What was Lincoln doing exactly?"

Lynn turns red, and tries her best to look away. "D-Did that make you feel anything? Anything at all?"

The way Lucy interprets that feels like Lynn was expecting a specific feeling that the goth was supposed to experience. "No, but I just think it was weird of you to show me. What was the point of that?"

The athlete's cheeks revert back to their regular skin color, as Lynn returned her glaze back to the younger sibling. "You didn't feel anything? Nor wonder why he was doing that?"

"Frankly, I don't know what that was exactly, but no, I have no feelings or further questions about it. And they say I'm creepy." Lucy leaves it at that, and begins to walk away, while the pondering Lynn remains in place, whistling like nothing had happened.

 **Night**

She disregarded it all completely by the time it was eight. She lays comfortably on her bed, reading some Edgar Allan Poe works, when Lynn bursts into the room, out of breath.

Lucy sighs, delivering a grievance as she sets her book down. "Hello, Lynn," she says with no joy in her voice. "I take it you went on a jog?"

"Actually, not this time..." Lynn moves to her bed, and that's when Lucy notices the athlete's stance was off. Lynn appears to walk in such a funny manner, as if she was hit by an unseen ball.

"You okay?"

Lynn's forehead was mildly moist, now that she was close enough to be noticed by the goth. "Phew... Never better!" She dives back first into her bed, letting out a satisfied sigh and calls it a night. "I'm crashing, sis. Goodnight." The sports fan makes no effort to tuck herself in underneath the covers, and Lucy simply raises her shoulders and continues to read.

Not even five minutes pass when her nose detects a rather unfamiliar fishy smell. It wasn't exactly disgusting but it burned her nose, so she stops reading and opens the door to let the odor out. "What is that?" She wonders, looking around.

She nears the now snoring Lynn and notices a disturbing wet patch on where her privates were located. It was there, in an imperfect circle right on her red shorts.

"Umm... Ew!" The innocent Lucy figured sporty had evidently peed her pants, and probably had a tuna sandwich prior to this, explaining why it smells fishy. Lucy scurries away into the shaft, taking her book with her to find a promised isolation where the sounds of Lynn's snoring and her infectious odors were almost fully immune to the metallic maze.

She stays there, and continues to read after setting up the flashlight feature on her phone. She loses herself in The Raven, and once more, goes out of her concentration as faint mumbling comes from below.

"Sigh..." Lucy clanks her head against the grate opening, just in time to hear Lynn sleep talking.

"Lincy... My Linc... I l-..." Lynn snores out her own sentence, and it would've been humorous for the goth, if not for how strange the words seemed to display to her. The message was becoming clear, and Lucy couldn't believe she overlooked it. Maybe it was because she didn't care, like she usually doesn't, with the others' ordeals in general. Or maybe it was something more...

"I love... You..." Lynn muttered softly and... In a loving manner, it seemed. Softer words from the girl who liked to win, and would always do what it took to do so.

Lynn was undoubtedly in love, and Lucy wasn't even remotely disgusted, but rather interested.

Once upon a time, the goth had read several incest tales and knew about the concept and how frowned upon and illegal it was. Never would she imagine that sports fan Lynn Loud would actually become infatuated with her younger brother.

"Wow..." She peeps, and decides to finally come out. "Life is strange."

 **Now**

Lucy sits in the missing sister's bed, holding the journal as she stares up at the ceiling. "Dang it, Lynn... Why did you do this?"

Lucy, now the holder of a boat load of secrets, actually begins to feel something flare up from beneath the surface.

The room was steady, and quiet. The mess of sporting equipment on Lynn's side of the room had not been cleaned up, since the day the family woke up to find them missing. That was yesterday, and the two kids were gone without a trace. No note. Nothing at all.

Luna comes into the room, without bothering to knock. "Lori's room, now," she instructs. "This is mandatory."

Lucy gently places and leaves the journal on Lynn's bed and heads to Lori's room, no doubt for the emergency meeting that was likely to be called when she had returned.

And it was at that; the goth waltzes in and is bombarded with a series of questions, and the overlapping of the others' voices makes her want to cover her ears and leave.

Lori takes one of her shoes off and hits it against her dresser. "Easy, now! So, Lucy..."

The goth takes her place by Lori and in front of the others.

"What happened? Were you interrogated, too?"

Lori tries to keep her malevolent rage from bursting, ever since the journal was found out. In fact, some of them had grown to be quite angry with the goth for keeping quiet about something so critical, related to the case. She taps her fingernails on the dresser while keeping it together.

"Yes, they asked me what I know, but it's what I told mom and dad, I knew nothing, and I still don't," thr goth answers.

Luna scoffs in the back. "Rubbish, dude! You knew to write about Lynn's bizarre behavior!"

"Luna, cease!" Lisa barks out, but Luna continues her rambling.

"Were you gonna tell the rest of us about this or was your spooky nature prohibiting you from doing so?!" She gets up from Leni's bed and gives Lucy what for.

The goth goes down with an unbalanced slap delivered by the punk rocker, but pushes past the throbbing pain, which comes as a surprise to some of them.

"Well?!" Luna still demands an answer, the only thing she knew she cared about, when forgetting all about the pair of missing siblings. "I'm bloody waiting!"

Lori moved her back while little Lucy picked herself up.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Lori asks with a soft voice Lucy never usually detects.

"Just dandy," Lucy answers. "Look, about the journal..."

The wave of eyes all centered onto her, and she felt herself smack dab in the heat of the moment.

"I had suspicions about Lynn being real off these past couple of weeks, and I didn't know exactly why. To this day, I still couldn't give an answer, even if I had to guess. But all I've done was secretly write about the weird cases she was exhibiting. That's all it was."

"Okay, sis, but how did you know to do so? Something must've happened to make you want to do this, right?"

"You're not wrong, but it was only like a few of them in when I started to finally observe and make private reports."

"Can... I see it?" Lori hesitates, to suggest she doesn't truly want to see the contents of the journal.

"No, don't, I don't wanna know," Luna cuts in

"Understandable, so I won't read aloud, fair?"

Luna crosses her arms, turns away like a triggered rich brat.

"Bring it here, Lucy," Lori gently commands.

After that, Lucy bolts out and returns with the notebook. Lori begins to read through it, and not even halfway in does she make some whimpering sounds, but covers her mouth to break that cycle. The others go disturbed, looking away and forming fists, squeezing as Lori's muffled whimpers continue.

"Eleven... There are eleven of these..." Lori finally closes the book. "Did she really do all of this? Is this-" Lori ends herself there, hands trembling visibly. She drops the gray journal on the floor, and jets out of the room, probably to cry.

Lucy makes no attempt to pick the damn thing, and only notices the heartbroken looks among her many sisters around.

"I can't believe you didn't trust us, Luce. We could've all done something about this-"

"Luna, don't blame her," Luan defends, placing an arm on Luna's shoulder. "She couldn't have known they'd run off, otherwise she would have done something."

"That is very logical," Lisa adds. "Lucy has no more to hide anymore at the current situation. Now, I think I'll have a look see at that journal."

Lucy allows the genius to take it from her, and with that, Lisa strolls away with it.

"I'm sorry, you guys. That's-"

"Just get the bloody hell out, Luce!" Luna bursts out.

"Lucy, I second that. Some of us need time..." Luan speaks for them. "Please..."

Lucy exits back into her room, but immediately heads for the shafts. She develops the queasy need to unlock all her troubles and just let out the everything she knows and still hides from them. She gets desperate, growing conflicted with it.

Lynn and Lincoln, could they still be saved? Or at least one of them?

Lucy punches the metal surface of the shaft, making a ringing echo that hurts her ears. Maybe she deserved it, after all that had progressed.

Would the truth ever be revealed? Or would Lucy keep it away, thus making them suffer with the only question everyone wanted to know; where were the two?

 _Dang it... What did you get me into, Lynn?_

She moves further into the vent, and hears a wrinkling sound. "Huh?" The source was from a torn-out page she feels and grabs it. "What is this?"

The page contains a message that Lucy is barely able to read without light. She takes the page to the light that shines through the entry grate, and reads;

 **I know what you know, and I know where they are.**

This submits quite a shock to Lucy, placing her worries and fear further up, and increasing what there already was.

Someone else... Seemed to know? Everything? Lucy crushed the paper in her hands, alerted. Now, she had another thing to worry about. Another obstacle on the road.

* * *

 **AN: So, about this fic, I've actually found this as a challenge after the completion of the first chapter, which I now see as an easier thing than typing this chapter up.**

 **It's gonna remain that way as I'm to create everything my way, as in nothing, notes and stuff, was passed onto me. As of yet, there is nothing really established, but I'm sure I'll come up with something soon.**

 **But I wouldn't be surprised if I decide to scrap it. Not that I'll resort to, and I know there was a long wait from when this was Darko's.**

 **So, enjoy.**


	3. Sharp

**I can't do it in present narrative. Fuck that shit. I'm comfortable in the Dpiddy way. So, I've read a yandere. I hope that will help me out.**

* * *

 **Three Weeks Earlier**

The time was somewhere around 2 A.M. when Lynn decided to wake up and step out of her bed.

Of course, the Duchess of Darkness wasn't asleep by then, and listened as Lynn made her way out of their room, walking with stealth as if she were a ninja. Lucy did the same, and peeked her head into the hallway.

Lynn seemed to be heading into Lincoln's room, which petrified Lucy. Why was she going there. And... for what? The goth turned back and decided to take high grounds, which were the shafts, and decided to see what Lynn was up to.

She had that strange feeling and intuition that this was not some random goodnight kiss. She entered through the metal maze's entrance, making soft movements with her hands and knees, dur to the sensible ringing metal that the shafts could so easily make.

She got there, and readied her eyes for some weird, incestuous material down to see. Perhaps Lynn mounted on him, snuggling cozily with Lincoln. Or maybe putting her lips on him. That was what Lucy would picture in her head. However, what she found was not at all what she expected; Lynn was stripped completely, sporting her birthday suit, and had several fingers deep into her womanhood. She was standing besides Lincoln's bed, fapping with such a pleasant sight as she continued to finger herself.

Lincoln was undisturbed, as it seemed to Lucy. He held his stuffed rabbit tightly, oblivious to the scenery.

"Oh, Lincy... My beautiful, amazing Lincy..." Lynn moans out, exhaling sexually every three to five seconds. "I want you, Lincoln. I want you inside of me..."

Lucy yelped upon hearing the lust in verbal form.

Lynn gasped at the sound and pulled out her sticky fingers from her vagina. Her special love nectar oozed out and dripped onto the floor. Lynn eyed the shaft and tried to see and hear for any sign of life within it

Lucy's heart was beating a tad over regular, and she had a mouth covered over her hand, regretting her alerting the changed athlete of her possible whereabouts.

Lynn wasn't able to speak to call to the dark of the shaft, due to possibly waking up Lincoln, who didn't need to see Lynn masturbating in his presence. There was no way to talk her way out.

She began to instantly redress, and that window was all the time Lucy needed to drag herself back.

It was weird, uncomfortable, and worst of all, it was disturbing to the young goth. Her stomach, there was a new sensation attached to it. Not like when she felt nauseous, with a desire to vomit. Nor was this like the sensation when she had gained the courage and had spoken to that Rocky kid who hadn't come back for a second visit yet. No, this was something far beyond any of those feelings.

This was an unspecified, uncharted island of her humanity. Or whatever she believed it to be left of.

The sight of that unholiness had instilled a dreaded emotion, laced with such fear that she raced back to not get caught. She no longer had an idea to avoid it like a plague.

Lynn was losing it, and doing these inexplicable but sinful things. And they revolved because of Lincoln, and definitely around him as well.

At this point, Lucy wondered whether to begin writing down every episode she had encounteref so far with Lynn and her lovesick tendencies. If anyone could do it, it would have been Lucy, for she spents the nights around Lynn, and it was plausible now that Lucy could get more scenes from her older sister.

Yes, it had to be Lucy who could document. It had to be Lucy, for she was the only one who could see this bizarre behavior from Lynn's atmosphere.

Lucy had shrouded herself in the shadows the covers emitted while underneath them. Lynn made her presence known thereafter, and stood over Lucy, wordlessly.

Lucy had gone and dripped a couple of sweat droplets, but those were unrecognized by Lynn's perfect smelling game. She stood lying on her bed, still as a tipped statue, and waited for Lynn to make the clear sounds of a bed squeaking and pillow adjustment just so she was able to relax and not worried about getting pulverized for intruding on Lynn's funtime.

Sure, maybe Lynn wasn't against having a viewer, as she and Lucy had seen Lincoln do this, as she realized what it was, and maybe...

But Lynn freaked out, for some unknown reason. Yes, she didn't want anyone to know about her little fapping act, not even Lucy, and bolted from the brother's room for that reason. And that was what also put the fear of God into the goth. Lynn wasn't at all having any private viewers...

There was a sound made, and Lucy figured the coast was cleared. The sounds of sheets moving was a wonderful tune Lyra Loud could've been playing if she was in this fic.

Lucy turned ever so slowly, a mistake she instantly regretted.

Lynn's hands welcomed the tiny goth's throat with a strictly feel with it. "What did you see?" Her voice was not of an angry, shouting one, but it was calm, pleasant, and terrifying as well. Lucy wasn't able to even see her face in the dark. She gagged a little, trying to shove away the frightful sports fan off of her.

"What... Did... You... See?" She repeated, keeping the same level of pressure applied to Lucy's neck.

Lucy whimpered, and then began to tap on Lynn's back. "S-s-..."

"I'm gonna let go. Don't scream..."

Lucy complied with a slow, nervous nod. She lowered her hands, trying to get a fresh breath of air.

"Okay..." The superior athlete released her tight lock from Lucy's fragile neck, stepping back. "I'm... Sorry. Did- Did you see?"

Lucy wondered what the right answer was.

Two seconds ago, Lynn Loud was a menace, displaying a merciless nature that managed to shake the goth, who was usually comfortable in the darkest of places. Not like this. This was completely a different darkness, and Lucy felt further strayed from her own comfort zone.

"I... I'm sorry," the guilt of her spoke for itself. Her voice was breaking a little, but she made an effort to try and keep in steady. "D- Do you- Do you like him?"

That was a question that meant all or nothing. Lucy still found everything to be off, weird and far from her mental home. All these newfound things were petrifying, and this was because of feelings.

"I... I didn't do a good job of hiding it, huh?"

Lucy shook her head, but then uttered a "No" in case Lynn didn't see it. She wasn't convinced that this was Lynn being sincerely guilty. She pulled the covers back over her and sighed. "I'm going to sleep this time."

The elephant in the room was due to be spoken of, but now was definitely not the time. Lynn was caught jerking away to a sleeping Lincoln, and Lucy was the official witness to it. They'd have to talk. And they would so, in...

 **The Next Day**

Lucy had just come back from the store with Lori, who provided the car ride. Another poem written from her, and due to be given to Bobby. She was really running out of juice in that department, and prerty soon, the trades would stop. But that definitely wasn't today.

She only bought a gray journal, and Lori felt the ride to and from the store wasn't worth it for that little thing. As usual, the oldest Loud just wanted to keep texting her Boo-Boo Bear. Lucy hissed at her, but left before a temptation to bite her rose.

Lynn wasn't in the room at the time Lucy came in. Luna strolled by, and Lucy called to her. "Hey, where's Lynn?"

Luna scratched the back of her head and the looked to where the backyard would be. "She and Lincoln are sparring out back, dude."

Lucy opened her mouth a little. "Thanks."

Lucy began to write the first few entries in the journal;

 **Lynn Loud has been acting strange, something that started recently. I'm not sure what to make of it, or if she might need help. I didn't realize it then, but I see it now. I see that she is obsessed with my brother. The first episode of her weird activity was when we caught him doing something that I found rather odd. The thing Lynn called it had a funny name. I wasn't sure of what to think of it. And this was the first.**

 **She's eyeing him in a different way I recognize, and this is the same look she gives when there's a ontest or trophy that she wants to desperately win. By then, I figured it out. I figured that she had developed feelings for my brother. I've been reading enough gothic novels to realize this is incestuous in nature.**

 **The third thing I've noticed was her, naked, in his room. And she was touching herself on her privates. And it was... I found myself to actually be uncomfortable and, well, disturbed at it. I think now that she's sick. She's not well, but... I'm not sure if this can be calmed. She threatened me, but she also laid back like she didn't at all. I'm not sure if I should be scared, or worried, or maybe both. I've never seen Lynn like this before, and I cannot predict whatever will happen next.**

She stopped after filling out the first page, and closed it shut. Now, where would she hide it?

The vents were the only reasonable place to keep it away from anyone. Lucy placed it inside and left it there to be dusty for awhile.

Lynn was already behind her, leaning besides the door. "Hey, Luce."

The girl of darkness nearly jumped with a manually given mini heart attack, quivering as she turned. "Ah! Lynn! H-hey there!"

"I think we need to talk about something..."

 **Now**

The note, the damn note. Someone wised up. But the problem was who knew, when they found out, and why they had just revealed themselves to the holder of secrets.

"Dang it... This isn't supposed to happen..." At that moment, the possibility of anyone unearthing the sad, sad truth of where the missing kids were had reached a higher percentage.

It wasn't Leni, she was too ditzy to have uncovered it. Even by accident, she would likely be confused. It wasn't Lisa, or it would have all been revealed to Lori. Apparently Lisa's brain held no ample room for anything else, and Lori hadn't gone to confront Lucy with it. Luna was the same case as Lori, but there was no crashing outburst from the latter. Definitely not Lily, for she was obviously too young to even know what was currently unraveling.

Lola... Lana... Or... Luan?

She didn't have more to go on with the theorizing, but perhaps another note would be given to her. Maybe this mysterious person wanted something. Wanted something, which could lead to no good.

But... This meant that the new player knew the location of the missing siblings. Would they go and see them? Would they expect something specific, or had they prepared for the worst? Either way, it wasn't the goth who wasn't in trouble, but she'd have rather not let anyone who knew go there.

And that meant she definitely had to find this mysterious individual.

She stared out her window, solemnly looking straight past the street.

The past few weeks proved to be different for her. She didn't realize it until after Lynn's activity had sirfaced. With that, it helped push Lucy to a completely new darkness, one that she wasn't only just unfamiliar, but also uncomfortable. Home felt strange now. Home felt...

A sudden knock disrupted her trance, forcing her to break away. "Yes?"

"It's Luan, open up."

 _Luan? What could she possibly want?_ Lucy moved closer to the door. "Come in," she beckoned.

The comedienne wanted a private chat with Lucy. "Hey, sis, can-" Luan gulped with her words, still restrained by the fear and genuine concern for the two. She had her hair down, no longer in her usual ponytail set of hair. "Can we talk?"

Lucy cupped a hand to her mouth and coughed slightly. She sat on Lynn's bed and tapped to the unoccupied space on her left. "Luan, if this is what I think it's about, I've told everyone what I've known. It's in the journal. Now, I don't believe you can handle reading what she did. You saw Lori..."

"I- I know. I don't wanna, actually. I'm just here because I want to know how. How c-" Luan took her place besides the young goth, placing a palm on her left eye. She couldn't afford the luxury of crying. Not again. "I just wished you'd have come to us, and... You know, maybe we could've done something. We could've prevented all of this. Mom and dad have never been so..."

Lucy sighed in a different tone. She stared down at the comedienne's legs, not concentrating on the world around her. She lost herself in her thoughts, reminiscing.

"I'm... Sorry, Luan. I-" She had reason to say she was afraid, and really wanted to. It was het personality that couldn't allow it for some godforsaken reason. Was it that it wasn't like Lucy to display fear? Or was it that she didn't want to show off any emotion. Even then...

Her apology to Luan was already revealing guilt, and she didn't notice it right off the bat.

"I had no idea what would happen. It came as an unpredictable thing to me. If I'd seen it coming..." Lucy looked away, tapping her knees nervously. She wanted this shitty feeling gone. And she wantsd it gone so badly. "I swear... I swear..."

"Lucy?" Luan raised two fingers to her lower lip, looking on as Lucy had now began tapping the floor with both legs, with her body vibrating as if an invisible force was present to shake her. "Luce?"

The goth could no longer bear the pain of keeping the room of secrets locked away. She shrieked, which in turn, gave the prankster a fright enough to jump back. The tone of her cry was one in pain, one so terribly weakened that Luan could've actually forgotten her younger siblings for this one.

Lucy raced to the bathroom, pushing past Lori, who she herself had come out already. "Ow, hey, watch-!" Her eyes were automatically on her phone, and hadn't seen Lucy until the poet crashed into her. "Lucy?" Lori softened her voice at knowing it was her.

"Leave me alone!" Lucy locked herself in, and slammed her ass onto the floor. She sat for only a few seconds before she had done it; she laid herself down and rubbed herself on the dirty, cold ground where many likely germs were walking along it. She didn't care for that, or anything for that moment. She wanted it gone. She wanted everything gone. It wasn't happening. It shouldn't have been happening like this. She knew it all, and yet...

 _It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to stop her... I'm so sorry..._

Her hands kissed both her eyes, and the girl let out a silent session of crying and sniffing. Her blue eyes mixed with red in a matter of seconds.

Lori knocked repeatedly as Luan came to join her. "Lucy, are- Are you okay? Luan, what's going on?"

"I'm sorry, we we're just talking and..." Luan rubbed her srm in a guilty fashion, head tilted down. "I didn't mean to make her feel-"

"Okay, Luan, that's enough. I'll take care of this, okay?" Lori rested both her arms on the latter's shoulfers, gesturing a promise that the oldest Loud child would deliver a calm back to Lucy. Whatever her own tranquil was.

"O-okay," she whispered, guided by Lori to move away.

"Lucy, please, speak to me. We can get through this..." Lori tried hopelessly to turn the shiny doorknob, to no avail. "Lucy, come on. Don't make me break it."

Lori leaned her ear right at the door and listened. At first, there was absolute silence. The crying little miss black had emitted had gone completely mute. "Lucy?"

The goth dropped the razor.

Too many conflicts, too much to hide. It didn't help that the list of people who could never know about where they were, and what their fates were, was too big. She didn't need the newly added mystery Loud who had somehow made the connections and figured out all that she knew. Lucy wasn't concerned with them at that moment, still remembering she was also against the professional detective.

What else? What else was there that she was overlooking? What else was she not closely looking.

And then, just as she had concealed the cut on her arm and pressed it hard to stop the bleeding, she remembered the one thing that might've been discovered not to her knowledge at the time; Luan's video cameras. Or rather, all the tapes she had taken and hidden deeper in the shafts. She was lucky that the cops were too big to enter or they'd have found them.

The tapes could have shown something involving the two. That's why she took them. But maybe they'd show who was the one who knew.

Lucy finally unlocked the bathroom, twitching at her cut. She and Lori exchanged heartfelt looks as she readied to uncover the mystery person.

* * *

 **AN: So I've got something down fic-wise, and you're all in for a very wonderful, dark set of surprises down this twisty road. So, again, I'm shifting the angle narration, as I've already mentioned. Sorry there was a bit of a wait for this chapter. See you next time!**


	4. The Edge

**2 1/2 Weeks Earlier**

Lucy was relieved when it was made clear Lynn hadn't seen her hide the bew journal in the vents. Not that Lynn would get curious, or care at all, but it was just a precautionary thing that served in the goth's favor. "Yes? What's on your mind?"

Lucy knew this talk was coming, but hadn't any idea of when to expect it. She looked past Lynn, seeing and hearing no other sister in the hallway.

In truth, she was developing a slow and steady fear from the new, darkened Lynn that had already replaced the Lynn she knew and loved. This was a sister who cared about winning, when in the normal. Adding that to the rising display of her shifting activity, and what have you?

Lynn approached the goth with tiny paces, which only repelled the goth to move backwards. "Luce..." She drooped her eyes down and raised a leg, moving it behind the other. "I just wanted to know if you saw everything. I got scared-"

 _You're not the only one..._ Lucy thought.

"And I didn't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm sorry I hurt you."

Lucy wasn't sure if this was an act. Lynn's voice was broken enough to make it seem so real, if it turned out not to be. And her nice green eyes were shining with guilt and regret. She rubbed the back of one of her elbows, and then extended both arms out only to drop them.

"Luce, you're my sister, I care about you. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm really sorry..." And Lynn made her way to her bed and sat down, breaking her eye contact from the younger sibling.

Lucy kept her heartbeat steady, as much as it wanted to simply rise at the sight of Lynn.

If anything, things were just being confusing at the moment. Lynn was a complete hostile not too long ago, so was this person in her skin right now? Was it the regular Lynn? She believed it to be a mind charade, where Lynn was only trying to play with her head. These types of things were common in her novels, so of course Lucy would in the least suspect mind games at play.

"You tried to murder me..." Lucy hissed.

"When you put it like that... I don't know, I guess I wasn't in my right mind."

That wasn't even the half of it. Lynn had gone beyond the borders of insanity, even more than Lucy had recognized Luan to truly be at her peak on April Fool's. Oh, how Lynn slayed her with underestimating her own psychosis, whatever it was.

"You don't say," Lucy retorted, still standing right by the window. She felt the heat of the sun begin to warm her dark, lifeless attire, as was her hair also exposed to the bright sunlight. It felt weird and completely strange and uncomfortable. She wanted to to away from it, but it would mean getting closer to the twisted sister. She raised a hand and brushed it through her hair to reset the temperature. "Groan..."

"Will you accept my apology?" Lynn formed puppy dog eyes, something that she would only rarely do, the laat time being used to persuade Lincoln to let her bunk with him on a previous altercation not long ago.

"Hmmm..." Lucy made a step forward, having enough of the burning sensation behind her. "What if I do?"

"Then we can forget about everything!" Lynn stood up and gave a weak, goofy smile. "We never speak of this again!"

That's what Lucy figured Lynn would suggest. Nothing would get out, otherwise she'd be in heaps of trouble. Possibly even more than they could both imagine, combined. Lucy understood that, and that was why she was secretly monitoring Lynn's every abnormal activity from here on out. She was only worried for the athlete, of course she was going to help.

But, was her life really on the line the night before? Lucy had never been scared for as long as she could remember. The intensity was completely negative, and she was able to grasp that exact sensation right now. Right as she began to finally head closer to Lynn to make amends. Or rather, play into this act.

Lucy was know close enough to smell the chili from Lynn's breath. "Okay, Lynn. I'll take it."

Lynn widened her smile and then seemingly tackled Lucy. The goth tried to move back, but Lynn's strength kept her locked onto Lynn. The hug was a tight one, strong enough to possibly break Lucy's bones if Lynn really tried. "Oh, thank you!"

"Could you try not to hurt me? You're squeezing!" Lucy was then released without hesitation from the physically superior sibling. "I- I'd like to be alone to write my poems alright. And also, yeah, we never mention this again."

Lynn held a thumbs up, then bolted out of the room. Lucy was left with the garbage, remained completely still, believing Lynn would return and pull another one on her. Lucy listened for soft padding sounds, or slow drawn breaths. When they never came, she jumped into her bed and locked the whole world out with her sheets.

It didn't take her too long to submit into slow, silent tears. The sheets became stained with her rare tears, as she wiped her blurry eyes. And the darkness that she was wrapped around allowed her to have her moment.

 **2 Weeks Earlier**

The next few days have proven to be peaceful within the house walls. No insane antics from Lynn, but it all died down to the regular chaos Lucy had always seen around the house. Most of it came from the twins, fighting here and there about clean versus messy, and whatever she could remember they'd have often.

And that chaos was upon them. She headed down the hallway, hearing Lola's screaming about Hops jumping on her dress. Lucy hadn't a care in the world for those types of issues. It was only the twins giving the house grief. Not even Luna was heard rocking out in her room. Maybe she wasn't even there.

As she reached down the stairs, she spotted Lincoln and Luan in the front porch through the window. The faint laughing from them both suggested Lincoln was probably telling the comedienne jokes to her, rather than the other way. Her heart smiled for them both, and she broke away to get herself a snack. She grabbed the items she needed for a peanut butter sandwich, and before she grabbed a utensil, she heard the slamming of the front entrance ring so damn loud.

Footsteps came in the form of a jogger, and Lucy recognized it as none other than Lynn Loud.

"Hey, sis!" The athlete had just returned from her evening run, composed of a seven block radius to, and back. She made some leg stretches as she looked over Lucy. "Ah, that was a great burn!" She slapped her hands onto her stomach.

"I'll bet," Lucy replied curtly. She dipped the spoon into the peanut butter jar, ignoring Lynn. As soon as she stuck the two slices of bread and turned, she saw the vile Lynn she saw days ago. Only...

...The athlete was not looking to the goth, bur rather staring outside. To Lincoln and Luan's direction. The jock had her stone-angry face installed, the very same one Lucy had not seen fully since that scary night.

"L-Lynn?" Lucy forgot that she was starving, and was lacking attention to herself that she didn't notice her hands shaking with the sandwich in hand. "Lynn!"

Lynn returned to life, distracted back by Lucy. "Huh? Yeah?"

"What were you looking at?"

 **Night**

She didn't answer, and rolled up for a shower afterwards. Lucy satisfied her belly and left to continue reading one of her novels, until 9 O'clock arrived to tell her it was time to die again.

Lynn was already asleep and seemingly in a quiter mood than usual. Hell, there wasn't even snoring, which made the room feel off. Lucy turned her back to Lynn, but remained awake for a long amount of minutes.

There was that child-like tendency she had that screamed to tell an adult, namely Lori, about what Lynn had been recently doing. Lucy had never once feared the roommate in any sense, other than worried she could suffocate in the latter's flatulence in the middle of the night.

Something about all of this made Lucy actually push past it so that she could understand Lynn's illness, if that was even the right word. She liked it because it was dark, but she hated it because it was close and deadly enough to hurt.

The journal had only barely been written in it, remained updated unless the sicko would go on and do something lewdicrous again.

After everything, Lynn was still the sister who had made up with her, and Lucy was not one to blackmail. The notebook, the idea to document, it wasn't totally pointless to take upon. She didn't know if it was over. She didn't know what was really going on. The enigma of the conflict was actually beginning to irritate and bother her.

But something was wrong, and this was why it wasn't pointless. What more was down the line for ltte Lucy? She gulped and actually hoped nothing else would escalate.

Lynn's feet hit the floor's carpet and the thirteen year old brunette twisted the doorknob and exited. Lucy was still awake at the time. She crept up, in a more stealthier approach, peeking her head out the door.

Lynn was probably on her way to the bathroom, the only logical sense. Lucy wanted that to be the case. Lynn didn't head into Lincoln's room, so that was a relief.

And that soon went away as quickly as Lucy engulfed in it. Lynn entered Luna and Luan's room. And then she, too, poked her head out of their room, gazing darkly onto Lucy. "Go back..."

Lucy let out a blood-curdling gasp.

 **Now**

Lucy hid the cut from the household, but she covered it up completely. She undressed into another copy attire, and manually took the blood-stained clothes to the basement.

What a mess it all turned out to be. She felt like a shame, a failure to them. She had to go and hurt herself because she was no longer able to take it anymore. The secret of Lynn Loud was all in the damn journal, but no one had really read its contents, apart from Lori and their parents as of yet. Her, and whoever this loose end was. The loose end Lucy couldn't have the luxury of.

She slammed her clothes into the washer with anger, growling intensely. Her hands moved on top of the washer, and then her head plummeted down as if the dangerous game had already ended. As if she was defeated. And with everything it all looked, it was becoming likely.

Lucy sighed, closed her eyes, and took in the silence and tranquility the basement presented. There was not a peep from above, a saddening perk that followed the two gone kids.

And then she remembered again that it was her fault. Not Lynn's. Not Lincoln's. Hers. Luna had a point; Lucy could have prevented everything, but why didn't she?

Leni appeared at the top of the creaking stairs and followed the sound of faint sobbing. Lucy was on her knees, covering her face, with her back to Leni. She kept crying, even after Leni joined her and wrapped herself around the broken goth. She caressed her gently, like an expert mother to the eight year old, and planted a comforting kiss on the top of Lucy's head.

They stayed and kept each other company as Lucy kept letting her troubles out. The basement's light still maintained its tiny sun, grinning away at the scene.

 **Later**

Luan and Luna were quiet in their room, too depressed from the current events to get to their own hobbies.

Mr. Coconuts had yet to be played with, already having been dusty long enough to make it a legitimately serious thing that wasn't to be taken alight. Just like it was for everyone else in general. The atmosphere was dead.

Lucy came in unannounced, looking for Luan. "Hey, sis."

Luna took one look at the gloomy sister and rolled to her side, facing away from Lucy out of spite.

"Hey, Lucy. Can I help you?" Luan was sat on her bed, and on her lap was a joke book, but couldn't get it up to open it and laugh away her pain. She grabbed it and moved it to the floor like it was nothing.

"I want to borrow your video camera," Lucy requested. "School project."

Luan leaned down and pulled one out from underneath the double decker bed. "Here..."

Seeing the lifeless Luan was only adding even more treading guilt that Lucy could no longer bear to see. Everyone was feeling so dead, so drained from color, so... So much like her, yet at the same time, it wasn't like that.

The whole household had fallen, all because of Lucy keeping quiet. Quiet. Quiet as always. Silent little mortal. The one who usually remainsd quiet. Where, oh where was the justice in the irony of it all?

She swiped the video camera from Luan's hands and booked it out of the zombified room, not even bothering to close the door.

"Hey at least...-" Luan began, then sighed without emotion. She forced herself off of her bed and closed the door, shutting both of them away from the world.

Lucy had climbed into the vent again, crawling away from the light shining from the room through the grate. The stack of video tapes had been untouched for almost these last three weeks, and there was well over ten of them altogether. She didn't bother to count them, and Luan had not even suspected they had been missing.

These tapes were all stock footage, recorded in Lincoln's room, from the camera Luan had set up to catch any shenanigans or embarrassing moments she could catch Lincoln doing. The one, of many, that had been taken down on the morning he and Lynn had gone missing. No... On the morning they were discovered to be missing.

Lucy had gone out to replace them with blanks, and Luan had clearly not seen any of the replacement empty tapes as Lucy had also found the others and had placed them in more open places to be found by other sisters.

That bought her sometime, but she didn't know how long it would've gone on.

It no longer mattered, as she inserted one of the feal tapes onto the video camera, and began to play the footage.

 _Lynn was undressing in front of Lincoln. The angle was one pointed from the corner of the room, and the video was recorded in night vision; the entire feed was plasma green, almost an irritation to spectate. Lincoln was heavily sleeping, oblivious to something so easily detected._

 _Lynn was not at all being cautious or sneaky, now that Lucy was seeing it again. She touched her body, starting from her chest. She pinched and twisted her nipples softly and then tilted her head up. Moaning. She was definitely moaning. Then, her hands slid down and she then began to touch herself._

Lucy paused and then took out the tape. She grew rather nauseous, almost gagging. The tape flew deeper into the vents once she tossed it behind her. It made a horrible thud that caused a metallic echo. She didn't know why she was able to stomach the first time she saw Lynn masturbate in front of the sleeping Lincoln, and how she could no longer face it now.

She decided she had enough of watching anything else. God knows what kind of shit she missed if anything else. She crawled back out into the empty room, and was met with an incalculable surprise.

Lola Loud, the mischievous diva of the family, stood firmly planted in front of Lucy with both arms placed at her sides. "What were you doing up there?"

Lucy had no reply for her, for she wasn't expecting the pink dressed sibling to come pay her a visit. Her silence was what passed off for an answer.

"Fine, then. Don't answer that. I don't care." But she formed a malicious smile, to which Lucy sighed.

"Did you want something?" Lucy had no intention to speak to Your Bitchiness, after their many altercations in the past, even after Lola was possibly cutting it back.

"The journal. Could- Could I see it?" Lola looked around, seeking out the gray journal.

"And why would I do that? You're just a little girl. You wouldn't understand anything. Please leave." Lucy began escorting Lola out by her shoulders forcibly.

"Hey!" Lola ducked and moved under Lucy's grasping arms, and then jumped on her. "You'll show me the darn book. I have to know what Lynn did, or..." She pressed her lips to Lucy's left ear, and whispered.

Lucy fidgeted at the pair of lips, until the whispering sentences were spoken into her eardrums. Once Lola finished delivering her cruel blackmail, she let go and stepped back behind the goth.

Lucy felt her face turn pale cold, completely immobile from the diva's horrendous relationship. "You... You're the one. You left that note."

The search hadn't ever started, and it was now over. She turned, with the sudden urge to attack the devilish princess.

"You're quite right, of course," she laughed. "Do you know what I want?"

Lucy lost it, and jumped the little bitch. Lola was laughing in a diabolical manner, squealing as if she was playing tea party. "How do you know?! What do you want?!"

"You're so dishonest. You're keeping the truth from everyone, me included. But I followed you, Lynn and Lincoln. I saw what she did and what happened after that. Now... Since I know, I can so easily tell them what you're hiding."

"But you'll also be-"

"I also know about the tapes. I can use that to my advantage if I have to. And they'll believe me, because I know the tapes were tampered with. Now, what I want to know is everything Lynn did."

Lucy was squinting,, figuring out what do to do Lola. She raised a hand to slap her. "It's not your place to know of any of this!"

Lola yelled back, "And it's not your place to hide it!"

This killed Lucy, driving her to slap the diva a few times. Lola kicked at Lucy's legs and rolled from underneath the goth. "Keep to yourself! What Lynn did to Lincoln and herself-"

"-Ha! You're as bad as we see you, freak! Why do you hide it? What are you trying to protect?! Lynnwas bad!"

Lucy tried to grab the fast diva around the room. "You don't understand-"

"I understand all too well! Lynn was a crazed lunatic, preying on our brother! You didn't do anything! You didn't do anything to save him! YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HELP HIM! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY IF YOU DO NOT CONFESS YOUR OWN SINS IN TIME! I PROMISE!"

Lucy gulped, getting tense. Lori and Leni kicked the door in, and right away was the oldest Loud sister trying to pull Lola away. "What are you doing?!"

"LET ME AT HER! SHE'S GOING TO SUFFER DEARLY FOR KEEPING ALL HER SECRETS!" Lola pointed at Lucy as Lori carried her away. "YOU'RE PAYING FOR THAT! YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU DIDN'T STOP HER!" Lola kept her uncontrollable rant up, even as Lucy was sure Lori took the diva to her own room. And the short-fused fight was over.

Leni opened her arms for a hug for Lucy, but the goth pushed past her and went into Lori's room.

"I have to see her," Lucy barked. Mainly it was to ensure Lola would keep quiet. The one-on-one would need more time.

"Don't worry, Luce. Lori can handle her," Leni unknowingly denied her, keeping her away from their room.

Lucy groaned, and tried to get inside when the sound of the front entrance's doorknob twisted, followed by the swinging sound of the door, creaking hinges and a few pairs of foosteps.

"Come in, come in, detective," Lynn Sr. said from below.

Lucy was frozen, and Leni looked onto her confused. "Lucy?"

The goth locked her ears onto the living room, and moved closer to the staircase.

Detective Antonucci was back, led by Lynn Sr. into the kitchen. His hands were in his pockets of the long trench coat he sported. His face was stone cold, serious as the first dance he had with the three members he interrogated lightly.

"What is this all about, if I may ask?" Lynn Sr. asked.

Lucy made careful steps down, oblivious to notice Leni still looking on. "Lucy?"

"We've found something that might be of interest to you." The detective pulled out a marked zipper bag, which contained a pocket knife. "Do you recognize this?"

Lynn Sr. stared at the object, trying to figure it out. "It's one of those switchblades, right? What about it?"

"Look, uh, this was found in a corpse of an eleven year old girl living in the Chicago area, murdered the night before your children have been reported missing. The department over there ran forensics, and it traces back to Lynn Loud's fingerprints." He stopped the report, allowing the father of one too many children to allow some reaction.

Lynn Sr. began stuttering gibberish, horrified by this unexpected update. "N-no, this can't possibly be correct! My L-Lynn is no such person, detective!"

"Mr. Loud, I understand how hard this can be, and I implore you to see reason-"

"Like hell I will! How dare you come in here and say my missing baby girl has killed-" He stopped to recollect something the professional detective had laid out. "Wait, an eleven year old girl?" It hit him that this particular victim was no random one. "I-is there a name?"

Antonucci cleared his throat before continuing. "The victim's name is Ronnie Anne Santiago. From our understanding, she and your son were really close. This happened near her home, in some rundown alley. Anyways, I'm here to tell you that both of them, not just Lynn, both of the kids are murder suspects in that area. This is no longer a missing persons case."

Lynn Sr. lost his shit. He wailed, heightening his manly voice into that of a shrieking girl. His head slammed down to the table, and the tears were recognized before they fell. Antonucci gave him the luxury of accepting the tougher news. "I am very sorry to have informed you of this."

Leni had gone away, returning to her room. Lucy was still eavesdropping, mouth now wide open. She gasped a few times while hearing what she had found out. She'd have hoped that these two pieces would be intertwined like this. Not this fast, at least.

Her forehead began to heat up in a great deal of nervousness and worry. Antonucci had gone far this fast. And... Maybe within the next few days, or even tomorrow, it would be solved. And Lucy feared the worst. But, maybe not as much, now that her father had learned something awful Lynn partook in.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd very much like to talk to Lucy again," Antonucci requested pleasantly.

The teary-eyes father lifted his head up. "Uh?" He weakly cried out. "O-okay, y-yeah..." He got up from his seat, heading away from the kitchen to fetch his dark daughter.

Lucy tiptoed quickly away from the stairs, moving into her room. She shut herself in as she pondered what do to. Her cold state had gone away, reverting to a humane one. Her heartbeat rose, almost ready to burst out of her chest. _Was this how Lynn always felt in every run?_

She didn't know what to do anymore. Her quest to keep everyone away from the sad, twisted truth of what Lynn had done was unraveled. Lucy had lost there, and Lynn's name was now attached to a cruel, non-redeemable event. _I'm- I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry..._

Lynn Sr. came in.

 _...Lincoln._

* * *

 **AN: We're about halfway there, but it's not a firm estimate. I'm not sure how many more chapter left, so...**

 **An unholy act has been revealed! Ronnie Anne is officially dead in this fic, and we'll get more to that, and also the subplot where Lola is revealed as the one who knows everything Lucy hides! But what is her plan? What is she really trying to do? Find out all this and more, on the next chapter of this fic!**


	5. The Road Not Taken

**2 Weeks Earlier**

For some barbaric, looming reason, Lynn snuck into Luan and Luna's room. Lucy was gifted another case of goosebumps, fearfully concerned for the well-being of the two. It was here that she was now contemplating telling the correct authority for what had been going on for the past week.

She was all alone in her bed, completely spooked- And lost. Not even the thin walls seemed to be doing the opposite of their shitty job. Whatever Lynn's reason was for being there, it was quietly occurring. If there was as scream- No. _When_ there was a scream, she knew what exactly to do, and who to immediately go to. It had all been worked out in her head within those three minutes after Lynn delivered the warning that curdled Lucy's ice-cold blood. All she had to do. A scream. Just one scream, from anyone of the second set of the oldest sisters.

There was nothing, not even faint whispering Lucy could hear through the wall. She pressed her head in closer, a mistake in which she miscalculated; she made a noise with the wall and covered her mouth to yelp in fear. Lucy then hid underneath her covers, something that she was curiously not used to doing as of yet.

 _Oh, God. Who heard it?! D-did Lynn hear it? Could she have?!_

There wasn't much she had in common with Lynn, but one thing was their pop-up maneuvers they could so easily stealthy ninja within Lynn aided her way back undetected. The doorknob emitted no rattling of the sort, for she had taken minutes to tilt a little, and so on.

Lucy, still trembling in her mind, had a higher feeling of looming danger just around the corner. She didn't dare peek out, fearful that Lynn could appear over her, even if she hadn't been heard coming in. Under the sheets, the temperature was vastly rising, and her eyes could no longer maintain with the land of the living. She gave a yawn, making an opening so that she may not suffocate.

 _Dang it..._

No matter how much she wanted to, she could no longer fight the desire to crash and sleep, for she was still human.

 **Morning**

She expected a scream or something god-awful that would probably wake up the whole neighborhood.

It came, alright, but it happened when everyone was waking up. Luan was the one who screeched so painfully. Lori and Leni were the first outside of their room, and Luna was screaming for some reason. Lucy and the others were peeking out of their rooms, seeing what the ruckus was about.

Lori and Luna escorted Luan, who was covering her mouth, out of the room. Lucy noticed a red substance flowing from her covered hand. Blood.

Lynn retracted back from the hall, smiling devilishly. "She deserved it," Lucy heard the athlete whisper.

"W-what? What did you do?"

Lynn turned her back to Lucy, and stared at nothing.

The screaming around them stopped. No clattering of footsteps overcrowded any sounds outside the ajar door. They separated onto their own solo scene, full of dreading, slow silence.

"Lynn..."

Time was coming to a halt, freezing exclusively just for them.

"What did you do to Luan?"

Lynn just remained still, as if she had gone deaf. Or was in her own little world.

"Lynn? Ly-"

Things turned a creepy turn once Lynn began to slowing cackle unlike anything Lucy had ever heard from her before. Yes, Lynn was laughing lightly, and holding both hands to her chest.

"What the..." Lucy was fairly disturbed, making a step back from Lynn. "What is happening to you?"

Lynn caught out of breath, wheezing and catching her breath. "Oooh... Nothing! Nothing at all!" She smiled widely, showing her row of teeth. "It had to be done."

Lucy twitched, exhaling sharply. "W-what had to be done?"

"She didn't brace herself," Lynn giggled.

The world around them had finally returned upon the stampede of Louds charging back to Luan's room. Lucy hurried it out, deciding to cut Lynn's insanity display short. "Guys-"

Luna was gently stroking Luan's hair as the comedienne was holding her bloodied mouth with her own yellow towel. "Ah, Lucy! Uhh..."

"What is it, Lucy?" Lori stood before her, acting as a blockade to shoo off the younger Louds. This meant the goth as well.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing emitted.

What could she say? Lynn implied it, implied that she hurt Luan. Would they believe her? She thought about fetching the notebook, and explaining what currently was, underneath all of their noses.

What was wrong? Why was she still somehow holding it back?

Lynn. She thought about her again. This new Lynn was unstable, and they both had already known it. Lincoln was the source behind, but why was she so infatuated with their brother? What was it? What was going through her head?

Lynn... What did she need? Who could help her now?

"What happened to Luan?"

Lori shook her head. "Nothing serious, Luce. Could you leave us alone for the next half hour or so? Go play with Leni or something." Lori closed the door before she allowed herself to hear more of Lucy.

"But-! Sigh..."

Lynn strolled into the hallway, leaning against the wall and chuckling. "Just like it's supposed to be. I'm on top, and you're at the bottom." She crossed her arms, and posed in a suave manner.

Lucy gulped and stormed quickly into Lisa and Lily's room, tripping over some of Lily's scattered toys and falling headfirst on the csrpet floor. "Unf!"

"Greetings, sibling. May I assist you with something?" Lisa pushed back her glasses, staring at Lucy with a zombie expression. She walked over to her and squinted. "Hmmmm. Is something the matter?"

"Uh..." Lucy forgot that Lisa was basically able to see through everyone and their tells. "N-no, I just was-"

"I can see the projection of fear on your face, Luce."

Lucy's eyes looked to the ground. They scattered around, as she struggled for even a thought. She was already breaking, by the looks of everything. Lincoln. Lynn. Death threat. Insanity. Obsession. Tbis was... This was nothing like she had felt before. Nothing like any of her fictional novels. Nothing.

"I-I'm just afraid, because-"

"Say no more. I, too, would feel afraid if the wires on my braces snapped and cut the inside of my mouth."

"I-is that what it-" Lucy gave in, and vomited all over Lisa's nice socks, coating them with a new smell green color.

"Egad! How dare you!"

Lucy wanted to slap her as she coughed wildly below. "At least have some concern for my well-being."

"The stains will take hours to remove!"

Lucy left Lisa to clean up the mess. She relaxed a little, relieved that she didn't come out with it directly to Lisa.

Once in the bathroom, she gurgled some mouth cleaner to destroy the toxicity inside. It was unfortunate that it couldn't destroy words that were bursting to be released from deep inside of her. She drew easy breaths once spitting out the blue-green minty fresh liquid into the sink.

"Darn it, Lucy, what are you even doing?"

 **Later**

She resorted once more into her safe zone. Only, it started to feel different now. Perhaps it was the addition of the journal that gave the shafts a form of dark essence that begun to give her dooming chills down her back.

She began writing another entry in it;

 **In all honesty...**

The pen in her hand wasn't steady at all. Lucy wasn't sure what to write this time. That's when she felt it needed to be something more. Something vague. Something perhaps cryptic.

 **The mind out of line is the one who needs to be pushed back in. I know not how to seek and gather-**

Lucy dropped the pen and hit her hands onto the shaft, overwhelmed by the defeat of even the simplest of things; writing out her secret documentings.

 **Luan's braces- Lynn did that. And she's already done such atrocious things, too much for me to stomach. I can't-**

 **-Take it anymore. Lynn... What can I do? Tell anyone? For the first time in my young life...**

Lucy dropped the pen, and slid the notebook away from her, to prevent getting it wet with her freshly made tears.

Scared. That's what it was. That's what she was feeling for the past few days, after that first time. The first time Lucy saw Lynn engaging in that sexual act around an unaware Lincoln. Disturbing, it now was.

She brushed her hair from her face, revealing to the ghosts around Lucy her perfect cold blue eyes, now red and blurry. She wiped off her tears uncaringly, only managing to spread the tears like some face cream.

She pulled back the pen and journal after some words came breaching.

 **I gathered she's obsessed with him or something. She loves him, not in the sisterly manner I'm all too familiar with, as I've already mentioned before. But... Should I have done more? Beyond just noting down every little thing she does?**

Maybe there was more that she could've been doing. It was there that Lucy decided now. Decided that there was no need for her to keep this in the dark.

It was time to finally reveal her card out to them. The unfathomable pain was no longer able to be kept in its cell inside of the goth. It shouldn't have had to be her own little thing to handle. She wasn't a big sister, nor a parent. It was all out of her reach.

 **Later**

"So... You're telling me that what's written in this journal is what really went on between you and Lynn?" Clyde looked over the journal on his bedside in his room, joined by the only witness of the Lynnsanity. He was surprised that Lucy had gone and arranged this subtle meeting out of the blue, but was willingly compliant when it was made clear Lucy was in trouble, and in dire need of help.

Lucy was laying on the floor, right by Clyde's feet. "That is correct. I thought I could do this by myself. Thought that it was fixable, that maybe it was something Lynn could get through. She's been doing crazy... Things." Lucy pointed to the notebook. "Read it, but be wary, mortal."

And Clyde opened to the first page.

Lucy's eyes met the ceiling, unable to see his facial expression. The light waa bothersome, so Lucy retreated it bu shutting her eyes. It didn't work fully, as her eyelids didn't hide out the light, enabling Lucy to sense the light through her lids.

Clyde flipped to the next page, uttering no sctusl response. His eyes scanned through the words slowly, trying to make sense of it. His mouth had dropped after the first entry was read, and remained that way after.

Lucy recognized the finish once Clyde closed the journal. She opened her eyes and leaned up. "D-did you-"

"Yes," Clyde interrupted. "D-did she really choke you?" Clyde stood up and sat on the floor next to her, and proceeded to place an arm around her.

Lucy responded with a broken exhale, and nodded. "She did so, and it feels like she had no remorse or regret in the sick pleasure. If anyone could help me, it'd be you, Clyde."

"Oh, uh... I'm not going to lie, this looks very ugly. Sure, I've learned some things from Dr. Lopez from most of the sessions we've had, but I'm not too experienced to deduce stuff of this department. What I would suggest is we take this both up with your parents."

Surprisingly, Clyde wasn't too damn petrified by any of this, not as much as Lucy had assumed he'd be. "I'm not sure what to make of this, in all honesty. But I understand the severity of this situation, and as such, I'd advise you having to show this to everyone who matters. I'll stop by with my dads and come over in about an hour or so. You leave the notebook here with me, and I'll inform both my dads of this. Okay?"

She was relieved more than ever now. It was done, it was over. No longer did Lucy have to endure falling into the pit of unfamiliar, unknown evil. Evil, in the form of a vicious, physically fit, lovesick Lynn. There wasn't much, up to this point, that Lucy could do now.

"Okay... And Clyde?"

She accepted the registration of pain, fear, and worry since the past week. And all was nothing of what she wanted. Human. Human feelings for a dead girl. Dead no more.

She stuttered a little, before continuing. Clyde pieced what her likely next words were, so he hugged her. "It's okay, Lucy. It's going to be fine now. It'll be okay."

His touch was reassuring, and wasn't being resisted by Lucy in any way. Probably because she definitely needed something, from someone. Lucy smiled tearfully as the solution overwhelmed her in a stress relieving process.

She did as he told her, and left the McBride residence immediately after drying her face. She disappeared from the corner of the street, the silhouette of Lynn Loud crawled out of a nearby bush, wielding a bat.

 **Night**

The living room was packed with all of the kids, including the patient Lucy. She was crammed in between Luan and Lola watching the new episode of Dream Boat, but her mind wasn't on the show at the moment. She held her hands down flat, rolling out easy breaths.

She was a little nervous, but it would all soon go away when-

The knock she expected tonight had finally come. Lucy sighed with more life this time, as Lori goit up and walked to the window. "Are we expecting anyone?"

Lori pulled the curtains, and yelped like a puppy. "Oh, God!"

Even then, Lucy assumed that Lori was surprised to see boy who had an obvious crush on here right outside the front porch. But that wasn't it.

Lori yelled back at Luna, "Lower the volume!" She swung the door open, revealing Detective Antonucci right on the other side.

 **Now**

The calm detective was having a staredown with the goth girl, uninterrupted by the crying father as Lynn Sr. gave them the desired privacy the detective had asked of him.

She waited for him to say something, anything, much like he was. The pause between them was short-lived, but even then, did it feel extended and heart-stopping to Lucy. He cleared his throat and made the first verbal move.

"So," he began, holding up the zip-up bag with the confirmed murder weapon, "Can you tell me what this is?"

Lucy definitely, and tragically, recognized it. It was the knife Lynn used to claim the life of four individuals. "No," she answered curtly. "I've never seen that before, let alone-" She almost implied she knew it was Lynn's right before she caught herself just in time. How sloppy of her.

"Let alone? Let alone what?" Antonucci leaned forward, opening his mouth just a tad.

Lucy stammered briefly, scrambling for something excusable. "I mean to say I've never seen any of those around me. Not one..." That was the lie she managed to conjure up. Whether Antonucci believed it was another story.

He set the bag down, letting it clank on the table. "Has Lynn ever mentioned this to you? Owning a weapon of the-?"

Her edge returned, manifesting to assist her in the Q and A, if it was aiding. "No, she didn't. Otherwise, I would have written it in my journal."

"Of course, the journal. The same one that implies no incriminating confessions or illegal activities of the sort. How interesting that is to me, you see, even with some... Unconventional things that I've read about. There is nothing that I can use as clues or some idea of- Well, you understand my point."

"Sorry to rain on your parade, but I still don't know any more than you do."

The fair detective chuckled, looking down into his pants. "I wouldn't say that. You see, I've talked to your father about a girl who had been killed before we've got the missing persons case that morning, and this knife here-" He tapped on and over the bag lightly. -"Was what used to kill said girl. Eleven year old Ronnie Anne Santiago, as I'm sure you have met her before."

She steadied her breaths drawn with heightened heartbeats. "Yes, she was my brother's... Well, I'm not sure what she was to him. Temporary girlfriend, I'd say."

"But that's not all."

 **2 Weeks Earlier**

Lori cupped her mouth upon hearing the dreaded news. It seemed that the McBrides residence caught fire, and all three household members died in the fiery inferno. The kids were dismissed upstairs, a mandatory earlier curfew for one night only. The oldest three in the siblings lot have been informed of the situation, and kept it under wraps until further notice.

Antonucci was there to question a particular Loud by the name of Lucy. This was their first official dance, and Lucy had no idea what was going on. It was just the two of them, as requested by the stranger who wasn't dressed like an officer Lucy was used to.

"You're Lucy Loud?"

"Yes, sir. My parents said you're with the force. You don't look like it," she admitted.

Just like he currently did, he was sporting his favorite attire. If Lucy didn't know any better, she'd have agreed with Lincoln that this was a nearly accurate John Constantine cosplayer. He pulled out his badge and showed it to her. "I believe this says it all. Anyways... I'm here to ask you some questions. Depending on the answers, I'll either walk out of here alone or with someone."

Lucy was confused. An officer, right here in her abode. Where was the justice?

"Go on;" she was curious as to which questions they would be, but not in the good sense. Neutral, at most.

"Earlier tonight, where were you?"

Clyde. She went there, and-

"I..." She had no reason to lie completely, due to the nature of recent events. The whole Lynn ordeal was- No, maybe. Maybe this was meant to be. Maybe this was another sign, another way out. Life paved it just for her, and there was no shortcut or another road to take.

"I went to my friend's house. Well, he's a friend of my brother's, I needed some guidance with a particular problem. Why? Did something happen?"

If he had a hat, she'd understand in that instant that there was death involved.

"Unfortunately, yes. You see, the McBrides' house was burned down. And... I regret to inform you that nobody made it out."

Lucy rose from the chair, shocked. "W-what?! No, I was over there earlier! That can't be!"

 _No, my journal! I needed the thing!_

"Oh, my God..."

"Is there anything you might've seen? Anything at all?"

Lucy was in distraught, moving her head around at a loss for words. "No- I- I left in a rush, and-"

 _Lynn! D-did she follow me? Could she have done this?!_

"I- I think..." Shame loomed over her like a cloud, inexplicably. The name was all she had to say. "My sister..." Just one more. "-Lynn-"

"Speak slowly, miss," Antonucci reassured.

"M-my sister Lynn has been doing- Doing bad things. Maybe s-she-"

Lucy and the detective were both interrupted by the sound of glass impacting and breaking on the wall. Someone had thrown a wine cup into the kitchen. The devil in red and white came quickly running into the kitchen, and began to spray the two occupants with an orange substance using a water gun.

Lucy fell back once the stinky liquid blinded her. "Lynn?!"

"What is the meaning of this?!" The detective wiped his face away with his coat, now standing and walking over to the kitchen.

Lynn made a dash for the detective's pockets and pulled out a bag with a cellphone. Clyde's. "You can't win," she stated with great triumph. Then, she took Lucy's and stuffed both phones into her pockets.

"Assaulting an officer is-" Antonucci realized she proved to be quite strong for a tiny girl, what with him being forcibly escorted out of the house and led into his car. She rammed his head right into the passenger's side mirror and knocked him unconscious.

Lucy emerged out, feeling dizzy and sleepy. "W-what's going on... Lynn?"

The devilish athlete pulled up her jersey and took out Lucy's journal. "You weren't worried for them, were you? This is what you want, right? I've known about this for awhile, Luce. You're not subtle as you think." She then placed it back where it magically came from.

"H-how-"

"And that liquid I sprayed you both with will wipe the past few hours' worth of memories, courtesy of Lisa. Now..." Lynn took out Lucy's phone again and went to delete her text thread with Clyde. "Sixty seconds after the applying process, and then it kicks in. Here." Lynn tossed the goth's phone on the lawn and proceeded to place the heavy detective on the driver's seat of his vehicle.

It was a black, late model Trans-Am that seemed to be straight out of an 80s action movie. Lucky gor Lynn, the detective had left the ugly junk unlocked. It would've been highly gross to insert her hands in his pockets.

Lucy ignored the fallen phone and raced back into the house. "Mom! Dad!" She jumped as she bolted up the staircase. With only probable seconds to inform them what happened, she aimed to try her best to make them count.

Rita was the first to come greet Lucy with the curious question. "Lucy, honey? What is it?"

"Mom, it's-" The time limit had reached. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, semi-concealed by her hair that covered them. She fell back and plummeted into the wall. The sound of her head hitting upon it made Rita yelp in fear. She carried Lucy down, followed by Lynn Sr. They moved into the kitchen with their unconscious daughter to avoid panic among the kids.

And this happened just as Lynn silently came in and tossed Lucy's phone on the couch. Then, she took the gun and went on to spray both of her parents while they were distracted with Lucy. _Checkmate, I win!_

 **Now**

"I now suspect that Lynn was involved in what we initially believed was an accidental fire. As I'm sure you're aware about the tragedy involving the McBride family, no? Funny thing about it, too. There was supposedly evidence that you were there that night but... For the life of me, I seem to have forgotten. Luckily I always write notes about what I've got as clues and such."

Lucy scratched her head. "Hmmm. I don't remember, actually. Come to think, I don't think I had ever been there, I mean, for the second time."

"Are you sure? Could you try to remember for me?"

She shook her head calmly. "I never recall ever going to theirs, sir." She sighed, folding her hands on the table. "Is there anything else?"

So he found out about one murder. What's to stop him from removing the lid she so desperately tried to hide? And especially with that little bitch Lola around, could things be kept in its rightful place? Was this even rightful?

"Your brother might be in danger, if he isn't already. If you happen to know anything, and I mean anything, now would be the time to tell me."

Lucy only kept eyes on him, wordlessly wondering again, the thing she'd been doing more often. Ber eyes glittered with the light that shone above them. She was crying again, but only this time it was quiet, held together in pieces by her. "I- I want them to be safe. I want him to be unharmed."

The detective, not a stranger to certain types of displayed emotion with victims and family members of victims, sighed and bobbed his head down. "We, at the force, are all trying our best to solve this case and bring your brother home."

Her brother. Not both of them. Lucy was afraid of that. "W-what will happen to her? Will she-?"

"These are matters that me and your parents have to see to when the time comes. Anyways... I'm sorry to have to come and inform you like this."

 _Lynn! Lynn, why?! Why did-_

Lucy stayed put as the good detective recognized his cue. "It's getting late, I'd better get going. Sorry to have ruined whatever you were doing."

His footsteps were definitely louder than that of her father's, and Antonucci was only walking with no heavy weights on him. They receded as he went away. Once the shutting of their front door was heard, Lucy raced back to the remaining comfort of her room.

The shafts felt corrupted for her to run to, so instead she just hid in her coffin and plummeted to thinking land.

 _Why did he think I was there? What happened? Is there something that I forgot? Ugh!_

She wanted to punch the coffin, but loved it too well to try and even make a dent.

There was the elephant in the room that could not be ignored. There was no going back from this road for the family athlete; she killed Ronnie Anne, and they had evidence on her. The damn pocket knife. Lucy was covering the tracks in the background, that she didn't clear any of them directly from this event. If this was overlooked, who's to say there were other overlooked things, too?

And soon, the Loud family would know, and most of them would suspect it. Part of the ugly truth Lucy had agreed to keep a secret and possibly even take to the grave; Lincoln was dead, and Lynn had gone awol, running around somewhere. That was what everyone, and not just within the Loud house, but neighbors, friends, extended family members, they'd all believe that.

And they would look down on Lucy. And Lucy realized this.

She continued her crying from the kitchen, feeling guilt and shame from her long, cold, dark journey to keep Lynn's horrendous antics from being discovered, and the addition of Lucy hurting the family by doing so. The closure was everywhere but close to be accepted.

And it all fell on Lucy's part. She saw it happen. She knew what was the endgame. And she never prevented it. It was all on her. All on her. Her. The goth that needed to speak up this one time. Failure.

The coffin swung open, and Lola greeted her with a false smile. "Oh! Hello there!" In her hand was Lucy's journal.

* * *

 **AN: It's time for complications to really rise from this point on. Needless to say, Lucy just got fucked, and this is basically the prologue of it.**

 **Lola's agenda isn't what you'd think it is. The motive behind the blackmail will be spoopy.**

 **About that Lisa chemical; SURPRISE! Bet you didn't expect Antonucci to have met them already. So, yeah, Lynn uses a Lisa brand chemical to her advantage. Granted, it's a one time trick, and you won't see Lynn use it again.**

 **I think it should be known that Lynn knows about the journal herself. Eyes out, y'all. Next chapter on April Fool's. Cough, Luan, cough.**


	6. Pink Dawn

**Two Weeks Earlier**

"Ahh! What-?!" Lucy felt something poke her, making her uncomfortable. She turned to her side, unaware of where she was laid down in. What a nice surprise to fall off of her bed, along with her covers and the journal that was placed on her side and had one of its edges against Lucy's hip. "Dang it."

With no recollection of how she came to be, Lucy switched on the lights, and then turned around only to see Lynn sitting in a crisscross position on her bed. Her heart jumped once, but it didn't show to the jock.

"Hey, goth;" the insane sister greeted. "Sleep well?"

"I-" Lucy touched her face, and when rubbing, she knew her skin was feeling more soft and smooth, as if she had just showered. "Huh?" Lucy went to pick up the covers, which had concealed the notebook when she fell. In the instance she spotted it, she feoze in terror, and screamed eternally inside. _No, I- I left it at-_

 _S_ he was on her way to Clyde's, she was sure of it! But... No, she never remembered actually heading to his house, or anything beyond that. In fact, she had no recollection of anything that happened after she was walking to God knows where. From impulse, she moved and stepped foot on the journal, feeling Lynn might try something funny. "I think I had a blackout... I was walking somewhere, and..."

"Oh?" Lynn looked surprised. "Where to?"

"The park," Lucy lied. "But I don't remember what happened. Geez, my memory..." The little goth kicked the notebook below her bed. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's like, past eight. Why?" Lynn began to bounce and dribble a basketball, playing it dumb.

"N-no, that can't be. Where's my phone?" Lucy looked around for her phone, to which Lynn raised her shoulders. "Lynn!"

"I don't know where you've been, Lucy. I don't know at all. Stop bothering me. So, what's up with that book there? You sleeping on poetry now? Did it get that boring?"

Lucy did her hard to keep calm and steady, blocking the bottom of her bed with both of her feet, out of slight paranoia. "Yeah, no. I just.. I find it hard to write what I need to, you know? It..." The irony of this wasn't sure to Lucy to be helping her, but maybe she could at least open up without context to Lynn. After all, there was no way that Lynn knew what Lucy was really doing. "There's been something going on, and I don't know, I feel like I should try to solve this particular issue, but, I'm conflicted."

"Oh? Is this a serious thing?" Lynn stopped toying with the ball and moved up towards her sister, taking up besides her. "I'm down if I have to fight someone. Oh, is someone being bullied?" She cracked her knuckles, mentally set for a great beatdown. Naturally, Lynn was actually preparing for a possible beatdown.

"No, no one is being bullied. It's someone I know who's... Not well," Lucy sighed and fell back flat on her bed. "I'm not sure if anything could be done."

"Oh, uhh, how do you know? How do you know they need help? Are they doing bad things or something?"

Lucy nodded. "Something like that. I hope my phone turns up soon... Say, do you want to take a walk with me? I feel like I want to get out of here and just not think about all of this."

Lynn's lips quivered uncontrollably, and covered her mouth. She pretended to cough, and then hit her back a few times. "Ah, sorry. Alright, yeah, yeah I'll join you. Head out, and meet me in the front yard, I'll meet you there." And Lynn was already plotting Lucy's accident after accepting the offer.

Unfortunately, Lucy had a counter if something like this could happen. It was bad enough there were hours she couldn't account for, and now she felt no less worse than she had, even when she tried to relieve and vent some of her pain and worry to the one and only person who singlehandedly started the fuckery.

There was no predicting how deranged and loony Lynn had achieved to become at this time. She was on a psychotic rampage, going about and hurting whoever was getting in the way, or associating closely with Lincoln, the object of her maddening infatuation.

While Lynn was getting dressed, undoubtedly, Lucy knocked on Lincoln's room softly.

Lynn went downstairs after the front door opened and closed fairly quickly. She went down with her nice cleats in both hands, pretending to go down for a snack in the kitchen. It was at this hour when everyone had gone to their rooms respectively, as there wasn't a new episode of their favorite shows playing today. It was too simple, too easy for Lynn to call a victory.

She followed her false trail, and actually left through the backdoor. She never bothered to close it, for she placed a soccer ball in between the door and the doorway, to make it a cleaner, faster getaway.

Lucy was a liability she could no longer overlook. The journal, the aid, and the trouble Lucy presented proved too much for lovesick Lynn to overlook and hold off. It had to be now. It had to be today. It had to look like an accident. Maybe they could walk all the way as far as to the sewage system. She could place her hands all over Lucy if she had the perfect place the body would never be found. But... Where was this place?

She double checked that the scissors in her shorts would not be susceptible to be so easily discovered. The shape of it was barely noticeable, but she made sure to keep her hand over the pocket, but not keeping it there enough to make it obvious.

Lucy and Lincoln were waiting at the front lawn, where Lucy was still wondering where her damn phone would be. She didn't expect Lynn to come from the back, circling around the long way. Maybe it was her needing more walking steps for her exercise. That silly jogging nut.

Nor was Lynn expecting Lincoln to be there, forming a face like she had just come out of the new Avengers movie. "Oh, Lincoln! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey, Lynn!" Lincoln showed off his signature smile, happy that another one of his sisters was coming with them. And it was even more better, knowing that Lucy and Lynn would be bonding further, further building ever since they fought over a tub of toothpaste not too long ago. That, and Lynn fed up with Lucy's dark nature, implied by the rambling words that spewed from her jock lips. "Lucy was going for a walk, and didn't want to be alone. You coming with us, too?"

"Uhh, yeah, I need to perfect my eyes in the dark, yeah!" Lynn jumped on Lincoln and pointed to the street. "Meanwhile, I can be your weight! Work those legs, work that weak body to super strength levels!"

Lynn, four times the weight of a full laundry basket, gave Lincoln some trouble, and maybe was able to be piggybacking him for maybe five minutes, if she was lucky to last long enough on him. The gentle feel of him, and the willingness he had to not resist Lynn's tough and rough aid to get the scrawny boy into shape was only adding to her secret enamored state. She rested her head over his, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and blushed away in the darkness that helped to hide her face. "Is this really necessary?"

"Don't complain, little brother! You'll have muscle in no time!" Her eyes went to Lucy, throwing daggers at her for this obstacle and distraction.

The goth felt the jock's eyes lock on her, but kept walking down like there was nothing perilous going on.

"It's a little chilly," Lincoln shivered.

"Chilly. I like chilly," Lucy added. "I like-"

"The cold? Come on, Lucy. Give us something new. Give me something new. All this gloomy moody crap is just too overdone and boring. I should have brought a ball or something." Lynn felt the pair of scissors come slightly out of place. She jerked her body back to keep it intact with her shorts, now feeling dread cloud over her. Maybe this... Murder attempt was too soon. Folly at best.

"Not for me. So, where are we going?" Lucy asked, trying to lighten up the dark in between the two rivaling sisters.

"I don't know, maybe just a few blocks down and back," Lincoln suggested.

"Oh? What about Clyde's? He has a great set of parents," Lynn cheerfully said. She threw her free hand up and formed a fist. "It's been awhile since we've been at his place."

"That's a no, he and his dads are away for a few weeks. He texted me earlier today and said this happened so fast. He'll let me know when he's back. They even took his pet cat, too." Lincoln sighed in a depressed manner. "I'm a little peeved. First Ronnie Anne, and now my best friend. While I'm fine that he's only gone for, however many weeks, it feels like I'm..."

"Aww, Lincoln!" Lynn added more pawns into her game. After all, it was really her behind the texts from Clyde's phone, one of the final steps of her big move.

The power play of this day was her using Lisa's concoction on all her family members who were present when the notification and questioning involving the McBrides' fatal passing came about. It was a hard work to spray and render everyone unconscious. For her sleeper-holds, she thanked something she had seen before in a movie she and Lincoln were watching one day. She pushed herself past the physical limits, and it was barely endured by the tiny jock, but hopefully, it would add all up to her strength in a matter of days. It was a good workout, all in all, and the adrenaline rush of committing some serious crime, as well as doing her best to cover her tracks, added to the intensity and sweat Lynn conceived.

"You have me, little brother. We can go to the arcade, or the park. Maybe both, whenever we can." Lynn patted Lincoln's head and began stroking through his hair.

"Look at Lynn, fulfilling her sisterly duty!" Lucy teased. She couldn't help but smile at how silly and loving Lynn was. "How adorable."

Lynn looked behind her, unable to keep herself from blushing further. "I'm gonna kill you."

Lincoln heartedly laughed, enjoying the scene developing between his two sisters. "Ha. Well, Lynn, I'd like the sound of that. It's been awhile since I've actually gone down to the arcade."

Lynn rubbed the side of her face, on his own. "Then it's a date! I'd totally love to beat you!"

And there was the damn, darkening omen coming back to Lucy again. In the words spoken by Lynn, there felt something incredibly off. Something too god-awful to let be ignored. Lynn, was she making a move? Was she planning to do something to their only brother?

For starters, Lynn never really comforted Lincoln when Ronnie Anne had moved away; that was all Lori's job, which helped her further accept Bobby's plan for their future together. It didn't make sense to Lucy, for the athlete to start now. And the excuse Clyde brough upon couldn't have been why she wanted to hang with him. She didn't care for helping him; it was all her sickened feelings for him that was just making her do whatever it took to have more time with him. And she would have it... But for what?

Maybe it was time to make her own move, and a big one, too.

"H-hey, Lincoln?" Lucy was positive this could work, mainly to make Lynn fidget like crazy until she made a mistake.

"What is it Lucy? Something wrong?" Lincoln felt the intensity of the seriousness and slowed down as Lucy had as well.

"Well, I- I had some nightmares, and, I can't sleep in my room. I can't sleep by myself. I would bunk with Lynn, but-"

"She snores like a man," Lincoln finished for you, chuckling a little. "I know it all too well, right Lynn?"

"D-don't..." Lynn coughed to brush the fact away.

"Oh, you wanna sleep with me?" Lincoln caught on, and Lynn was just as surprised as he was.

Lucy conjoined both her hands and cupped them down. "Ahh..." Lucy looked down, knowing that thete was likely some form of risk in store for her as she went through this. But, if Lynn would try something funny while Lucy slept with Lincoln, and if- No, when he would catch her in the act, it would end. No way to lie or weasel her way out of that. Checkmate. "Yes, Lincy. I do."

And she sealed her words with a hug. Lynn was fairly disgusted, embarrassed, and fuming more than ever. It should have been her. Her, and not the queen of moodiness. She had even more resentment for the goth. As quickly as Lynn brought it up, her generosity was rendered invalid to Lucy's pain. Lynn pulled her feet back to avoid Lucy's arms touching her. Of course, that made Lincoln go unstable in his stance.

Lynn fell on her back, after Lincoln wobbled back once Lynn pulled her legs away from their wrapped position around Lincoln's waist. "Ahh!" She fell on her side, the same side the scissors were hidden in, which ended up burying itself into Lynn. It hurt, and Lynn's heartbeat and breath rate increases dramatically.

"Oh, Lynn! Are you okay?" Lincoln stood over her and bent down, motioning his left hand for her to grab. "Here, let me help you up."

But she couldn't. There was no telling how much blood exited her already, but if she didn't attend to it immediately-

"No, I'm f-fine!" Lynn slapped his hand away, and lifted herself up sideways. "Damn it, I'm..." She let herself lose control and screamed violently. The rage pushed both Lincoln and Lucy back, as if it took physical form.

"L-Lynn?" Lincoln could not help but only be concerned for her.

Lucy had hit the nerve more faster than she initially believed, conflicted if she should be happy or bad for Lynn. This was something painful to the jock, and there was no denying that. "A-are you okay?" Despite what was happening under the roof, and the fear Lucy had developed up to here, ahe still found herself caring for Lynn. She still valued Lynn as the sister who had always been her roommate.

Lynn came to a calm, holding both hands onto her accidentally inflicted stab. "I-I hit my fucking side. You're on your own, I'm heading back!"

They watched her run as fast and eager as she could, unsure of what to say to that.

* * *

 **Now**

Lucy was too shaken by this revelation. On impulse, she made a snatch for the journal but Lola threw it behind Lucy and went for a dirty bite onto her arm.

"Ow!" Lucy had enough of Princess Bitch and tugged on the pink dress. Naturally, it ripped and send the diva crying out in anger.

Lola's set of jaws relieved Lucy, enough time for the goth to tackle and pin her to the coffin. "What are you doing with the journal?! That's not meant for mortal eyes! And..." Lucy seemed to have forgotten where she had placed the thing. The last spot she remembered was the shafts, and so, two plus two must be- "H-Have you been spying on me?!"

"Ohhhh, spying is such a strong word," Lola giggled, unnerved and not at all showing any resistance out of Lucy's hold. She stuck her tongue out and blew raspberry at the goth. "Why, would I ever do such a thing?" She blinked innocently, forming puppy eyes and finished this grand finale with a sweet, daddy's girl type of smile.

"It's you! You left that note, haven't you?" Lucy grabbed Lola by the arms and swung her to the floor. "What is it you want? What are you hoping to accomplish? How much-?"

"Do I know? Well, almost as much as you, which is more than everyone else." Lola closed her eyes and exhaled delightfully. "I was there that night. You know, that night where it happened." Lola clenched both fists before getting up. "Luna blames you, and now Lori is beginning to. You knew all along, Lucy. You knew all along and you thought you could fix it yourself?! What, did we not matter enough for you to come to?!"

Lucy received both fists to her face. She went down with a busted tooth, and shed a pint of blood. "It had to be me! I knew what it was! I've read such things in my nov-"

Lola slapped some sense into Lucy, disgusted by Lucy's reasoning. "Reading about incestuous fiction does not freaking make you an expert! You're not specialized to defuse such situations!"

"Whatever, Lynn is my sister! She means just as much to me, and Lynn..."

"Lynn's place, it was in a mental ward. It'll always be in a mental ward! She killed Clyde, Ronnie Anne and- And-" Her eyes, glass orbs of blue beauty, shifted to a slow red, going watery. "Lincy..."

Lucy's anger diminished, having been soften up by one of the youngest being hurt by the fact that her brother was never coming back. She took a deep breath and eased up. Her face had numbed up from all of Lola's strength used for the special attack. Surprisingly, no one barged in to try and stop the escalation. There was that to help relieve Lucy only a little, but it wasn't sufficient to try and help her avoid the damn elephant in the room. "H-how? How were you there? I- I was sure there wasn't-"

"I was hiding, Lucy. Simple as that. I saw the four of you, and everything after. I know what you've been holding out on us this whole time, and even from the police, no doubt about that." Lola raised a finger and pointed right in Lucy's face, close enough to allow Lucy to go vampire bat on it. "You have to do what you so desperately tried not to, do you understand?"

"N-no, no one can know Lynn's true colors!" Again, Lucy was met with a slap.

"Don't be an idiot, Luce! This isn't her true self anyway! We all know Lynn, and this is not her MO!"

"Wh-what? If you understand, then-"

Lola pressed a finger up to Lucy's lips. "Everyone is distraught about where they are. We're all not focused on our own crap! Luan's not making jokes with that stupid set of oak tree limbs, Luna's not making my ears bleed, and even Lori and Leni aren't being media social! You could have done something, the right thing, to fucking fix this!" Lola had every right to punch, kick, and scratch the goth to death, and maybe that's what she considered more than once. "This was not your call to make!"

"I just wanted to save my sister from herself!"

Lola studied her, and then laughed for a reason Lucy didn't understand. "Bullshit! You didn't have to do this! What do you have to prove by being a lone heroine? Oh, that's right! Nothing! This..."

Lucy pulled away, ensuring the two of them had enough space between them. Both remained on the floor, sniping each other off with their exchange of glances. "No, that's not true, I-"

"Your senseless need to be dark and gloomy was too much for you, right? It'd be enough for me, too." Lola shook her head. "Are you still cold and dark, or did this whole experience make you wake up? You know, like you wanted it to. This... This was never about them. You had to force yourself to feel something, and that was all through Lynn and her actions, right?"

"...I-" Lucy riveted at the idea that she was subconsciously acting in desperation. And that was the thing; she _was_ likely looking for an escape from her own persona. And that, she ended up finding through Lynn's madness. Granted, it might have been too much exploitation, but the goth got what she wanted. Now begged the question, was it all really worth it?

"And what is it that you see? Lynn scaring you, threatening you, and even hurting you- Was that your dang plan?"

Lucy looked to her arm in which she gifted herself with the self-inflicted cut. "I don't-"

"Get up, Luce. Get up!" Lola made the first move and went to the door. "It's gonna be one of us to tell everyone. And I mean everything you know."

Lucy couldn't help but cry, opened up to Lola's insight. Hurt and shocked by Lola's insight, too. "H-how can you possibly understand all of this? I don't get you, you just love make-up and pageants."

Lola seized Lucy by her shoulders and hoistered her up. "Because... I live here."

The diva went to Lori and Leni's room, still occupied with the goth. "Lori? Lori, get out here!"

"Wh-what are you doing?" Already accustomed to the fear of dumping the truth to them, little Lucy Loud was afraid even less than before. Was now the best time to begin show and tell?

"You're not gonna tell us, you never were. So... You're gonna show us where Lynn and Lincoln have been all this time."

Lori peered out, looking down at them. "Lola? Lucy? What do you want?"

 **Later**

Lori had flown out the house, already eager to get back her two great siblings. Whatever Lynn supposedly did, based on context of Lola and the journal, could be forgiven in time by Lori. She eas frantic, she was hopeful, and to the Almighty above, she prayed to the bone that both kids would come back as they left.

She drove fast, with an injection of adrenaline added in her system. More of it would only make her want to bite her nails, which would lead to a crashed van. Their destination happened to be the Santiagos' old place, now abandoned after the family of three had moved away for a year. Lori had assumed that Lynn and Lincoln were living there since their disappearance, but Lucy seemed reluctant to answer any more of the stampede of questions.

Lola was just as prepared as Lucy was. She would see them both again, but the thing was, she was scared of what would go down. After all, she had seen what happened and fled once the quarrel of the three ceased. Turning away from the front view, she sobbed and wiped her nose on her dress. Like every little trait, hobby and activity dissipating at home, the well-being of her attires or dolls had no value for the time being. She could even burn her whole room, if it meant bringing him back.

Him, who once placed her good photo over a horrible one for the year book. Him, who taught her how to read. Him, who loved to read comics in his underpants. Him, the perfect brother, as much as he could be for her. Him, who was dead.

Lola couldn't hold it in, and wailed out her insides. It was a sad scene that only took the flick of a switch to activate. Lori was grieved by the crying diva.

They were down the block from where his death took place, and Lori pulled them over before they reached the destination. Like Lola, she broke into teary mode and the two cried together, closely holding each other in consolation. Their reasons were crying, however, were not the same.

Lucy hid in the back, forgotten that she existed. The goth sighed and only looked on to the human emotions being conveyed in front of her. This, she brought upon. And she could not help in feeling guilty, but at the same time, was conflicted about possibly being not actually guilty.

Shortly after, the three moved up in a triangle form, strutting towards the untouched home. "S-so, they're in there? This whole time, Lucy?" Lori was relieved, yet concerned at the same time. Lucy had admitted to having already known where the missing pair were. She rushed it and hoped to God it wasn't too late.

"Yes, I promise on my life, or hope to die," Lucy responded. Surprisingly, no scold ever came from Lori when dropping this revelation. That didn't mean it wasn't ever going to come.

"Lola?" Lori gave the pink brat the cue to break in the door.

Lola did so, by picking away at the lock. "Leni's not the only one who can do this."

"I'm literally gonna let this slide, but don't do that again. I mean it." Lori crossed her arms, and then un-crossed them once Lola got through and defeated the mechanism. "Oh..."

Lucy was the first to enter, while the two were hesitant to even look inside. Lucy had never been here before the day she confronted Lynn that night. Being here again, it felt less weird, and she remembered what was where. Then-

A small noise, like something falling over, spooked her. She stood still, and converted to tip-toes for the next few steps. She waved an arm behind her, signaling the other sisters to back her up. Lola finally pushed herself to follow, and did so with Lori's arm at hand. Lucy turned to the tiny hallway, stealthily maneuvering to Ronnie Anne's old bedroom.

The place was dark, but enough moonlit was passing through all windows. Plus, Lucy's eyes were more developed in the dark, giving her a slight advantage as she moved up. The noise, as she anticipated, had seemed to originate from the bedroom. Then, the raspy, demonic whispering rang out. Lucy's heartbeat rose up, and she was feeling like there was a volcano in the room.

She was halfway there, with only a few more steps until she reached the bedroom.

"Away... Go away..." The creaky voice was closer, and so horribly menacing, that Lucy considered backing away.

Lola was there to prevent that shit. She and Lori acted as the blockades, not for Lucy, but for the speaker whom Lori assumed was a hobo or something. "We've got you covered... Don't worry, we're scared, too."

Lcy panicked. Gripped. Resisted.

And in that moment, she felt all the essential emotions. This was it. This had to be the series of emotions commonly experienced by everyone. It didn't matter if it was positive or negative. It was something, and Lucy liked it.

She screamed, and moved headfirst into the room. She hit the side of the wall and switched on the lights. The next sight was too disturbing for eyes.

Two bodies decorated the bed. Both Lynn and Lincoln were dead. Or so it seemed, when one of the bodies appeared to move.

* * *

 **AN: I'm aware. It's been so long since the last update that there might be some plot mistake or something. I don't know, honestly I wasn't sure exactly how do keep it going, despite having all these ideas. What I can address now is that this will end before the chapters reach double digits, yeah.**


	7. Sisters

**Now**

The brightness had made the zombified Lynn hiss and cover her eyes. "Turn that crap off!"

Lola and Lucy didn't need to see Lori's live reaction, but they heard it. "Oh, my God, Lynn!"

Lynn was so malnourished, skinny like a walking skeleton. Her skin had gone to a ghostly pale tone, and her head was drooping like an elderly woman's sagging titty. "Oh, Lori! It's nice to see you again! Ah, Lola, not hiding this time, are we?"

The diva gulped. "Y-you saw me?"

Lynn just smiled dastardly.

"What did you do to him?!" Lori readied her phone at hand. "I'm calling mom and dad!"

Lynn went and tackled Lori, snatching her phone almost immediately. "No reinforcements!" Lynn dropped it and began to crush it under her feet.

"LYNN!" Lori screamed, falling back from the applied force of Lynn's speed.

As this was happening, Lucy stood frozen like a statue, overcome with the feeling of fear and powerlessness against the dreaded murderer.

Even a weak Lynn Loud was still amped with enough strength to take down the tall oldest sibling. She didn't hold back her punches, and to Lucy, the scene looked disturbing in nature, something out of a dark fanatsy film in her opinion. "Lynn, no!"

"Lynn, yes!" The jock declared triumphantly. Her hands, in a nonsensical way, wrapped around Lori's hair, keeping her down that way. The blonde screamed at solely trying to turn on her stomach, but pf course, Lynn wouldn't allow it. "Give up or else-"

Lola stepped in and mantled over Lynn as if Lola was riding a bull, or in her case, a bulldog. She tugged on Lynn's ears as hard as she could, not caring if she would rip them out of her head. This would've been the least thing to worry about, at the end. Lynn sent an elbow hurdling behind her, impacting it right into Lola's left side of her chest. That made Lola fall over, knocked out breath. She stopped, struggling to let the pain from the elbowing come to pass, but Lynn said otherwise. "M-no-"

Lynn wrapped a hand around Lola's chin, squeezing up to her cheeks and pulling her closer. Lynn moved towards Lori, who was still on the floor, and now bleeding from her head. Lori's hands trembled at the sight of the blood and then met Lynn's eyes, understanding that this wasn't a simple Nancy Drew mystery she'd have hoped to believe. "L-Lynn... Please-"

Lynn flatlined Lori's plea by lifting her leg and had it crashing down on Lori's whining face. There was a sound of something breaking, obviously her nose, that sent Lola to a squirming state. She yelped with a high pitched tone that Lynn did not believe it came from Lola. "Stop moving..."

The fear Lucy's body projected had given off an invisble aura, acting as glue and wrapping her body from head to toe. Her lips quivered as she stared at the eyes of death. Only, those eyes were busy with the diva, glowing with the unmistakable intent to harm her.

"M-mommy!" Little Lola cried out, still rocking her child legs back and forth. It was her own fault that this was happening. She followed Lucy, whom she herself was chasing after Lynn and Lincoln. She had no right to put the finger at Lucy for her secretive fuck-ups, and was now just realizing it could have been a different future. Lola was crying in Lynn's grasp, simply leaping to wailing levels. "L-Lucy, I- I'm s- sorry-"

Lucy's eyes widened just one second before Lynn's griping hand switched from Lola's chin, redirecting to her throat. The bloodthirsty jock, basically a skeleton up to this point, choked Lola with both hands now, slowly taking the life from her. The poor girl in pink was making gagging and stretching sounds, trying ever so desperately to draw breath from both her mouth and nose. Her face was getting intensely hot, and her eyes began to redden severely. She blinked multiple times, and was beginning to slow her movements. "Hccck!"

Lucy spotted Lori's dropped phone near the unconscious sister, seeing a way out. Lynn had her hands busy with Lola, that Lucy was positive Lynn wouldn't notice if Lucy moved swiftly towards it. She beeded a distraction first.

Lynn was rudely interrupted from holding Lola when one of Lucy's shoes smack-dab hit her forehead. Lola's lifeless corpse had dropped from Lynn's bony hands, plummeting with a hard thud. Lucy made a go for the phone, before Lynn figured out her play. "Why you-"

"You lose!" Lucy had the elder sibling's phone, and spun the other way. The pause from Lynn meant ahe had seen Lucy make the snatch-and-grab, and sure enough, she jumped towards Lucy and tackled her out of the room.

"You were saying?" Lynn kept the tiny, fragile goth pinned down while she picked herself up. Lucy still had the phone tightly in her hand, intending to protect it as much as she could. "Points for trying!"

Lynn stepped on Lucy's occupied hand repeatedly, shattering the phone in her hand. The device's glass screen broke into bits, burrowing around Lucy's hand in many places all at once, decorating it with a dark red messy cover of polkadots. Lucy now tried to let go, having more than enough of her fair share of pain. The strength above her palm now ached, unable to shake off Lori's busted cell away.

"P-please, stop. It hurts...!" Lucy sobbed.

Lynn's triumph mode began to fade. The sweet, but brutal victory, overturned for something else. The girl, one of her sisters, the one who had always been a thorn on Lynn's side, was practically begging for her own life in front of the winner. "You mock me."

For all it was worth, and for all the action Lucy took against Lynn behind the daily lives of the rest of the family, Lynn wanted to weed as much torture as she could inflict on the goth. "You've embarrassed me for too long, and in front of him, too, I might add."

Lucy shook her head. "You don't understand this, I did this for you! You idiot, I just wanted my sister back! All I get-" The moment of clarity had shown itself right here and now. The monster, the one Lucy had believed could have been reverted back into its original, harmless form, stood before her, ready to kill. She didn't know whether to feel like an utter failure for letting Lynn down, or to believe that Lynn was truly someone who could not be saved, or helped at the very least. "Lynn..."

The jock did one thing too many that Lucy considered immoral, unspeakable, and horrifying at the same time. How could this have been so different from the literary works she had read before in her novels? What was it, what was the difference? Why did it spiral so out of control to this magnitude?

Lucy had jumped into this escalating battle, believing that she alone could be the difference in Lynn's incestuous, lustful insanity. Her knowledge of gothic horror was not a valid reference to name ot an experience, but Lucy had believed that was the case, and hadn't known what was until now. If God's plan was to allow her to make it through Lynn's clutches tonight, then it would legitimately prove to be a great lesson on Lucy's part. "P-please..."

"He was mine, and only mine," Lynn began. "What right did you have to be close to him as I was? You've never played with him in any sport. You've never slept with him when you were kicked out of your own room. You've never rubbed any of his boo-boos when you've gone far with the light roughhousing. What could possibly hope to gain by coming in between us?"

Lucy only raised her good arm. "Sense..."

 **One Week Ago**

The scissors dug in too deep to be simply avoided. This was the first time Lynn had been terribly hurt by an object, with the second one being a broken hockey stick finding its way into one of Lynn's palms. The bottom of her hand was left with a red flab of exposed meat, moist with blood that time. But this one was different, for it did not only hurt physically, but had a meaning of embarrassment and a bad move made in the long-running chess game.

The scar Lynn received was a cut and penetrated hole that looked as if a meteor had crash landed on her. She immediately reported to Lori and Leni, sending them in shock as she continued to apply pressure to it. Blood had already stained her shorts, running a line down the side of her leg. Lynn had already made her cover story of slipping last second while trying to hop over a pole, which led to a nasty scraping the two oldest sisters seen. After the patching, Leni went ahead and kissed the bandage, which made Lynn go red with embarrassment, keeping her "I'm not a baby" line to herself.

The wound was only halfway healed, and no trip to the emergency room came to be. Lynn had taken a pause from her sick games, taking the time to completely recover from her injury.

She knocked on Lincoln's closet of a room, being literally watched by Lucy, whose head was already peeking out of their room. Lynn didn't even have to look back to see Lucy, already having her secret sixth sense feel Lucy's eyes, or the bangs over them, on the back of her head. "Lincy?"

It was a few days since that had happened, and no further entries had been written in Lucys journal. Lynn double checked and made damn sure that was the case. How long could they keep this up until some third party caught wind of what was ensuing right under the roof? Even a detective had gotten involved, but even then, the fool hadn't pieced anything as of yet. If Lynn hadn't used one of Lisa's homemade chemicals with the specialized mind-wiping properties, she knew that she would have fallen for sure.

"Come in," Lincoln called from inside.

Lynn turned the knob and entered with hidden joy. "Heya, Linc!" Lynn had enough of the goth get in her way, while also having privately noting down all of Lynn's behavior and antics. She didn't really care about it at first. Lucy was never the sister who would tattletale on Lynn, unlike Princess Bitch of the family. Lynn made a miscalculation in showing the wrong sister what Lincoln had done on the very first day she brought Lucy into a more mature themed aspect of life. Or maybe... Maybe it was that no one could stomach it until they were ready to. Was it weakness? Was it based on maturity? What was Lynn, really? What type of person was she now?

Lynn toyed with her hair, speechless this time. Actually, this time she came in unscheduled and with no lines. "C-can I ask you something?"

She hurt Luan a past night ago, and committed sexual nefarious acts in the presence of the current boy she was now speaking with. She didn't know what it was per se, but she felt like she needed to confess for a second. To wonder what was and how long it could be going. Lynn was not one to be patient, and had zero tolerance to lose. But this... It was not a game, at least not one that had a win-win for the victors of the game.

"Sure, what is it?" Lincoln was reading an Ace Savvy comic, but set it down and laid it flat on his bed. "Is this something about a martial arts tournament? I'm not gonna be your punching bag this time." He crossed his arms to portray himself as serious.

"No, no, it's not that. I just have a hypothetical question, and I wanted to ask you before I did so with everyone else."

Reading her expression, he caught glimpse of slight curiosity and desperation from her face. Lincoln closed his comic book and placed it on his lap. "Hypothetical, you say? Ask away."

Lucy was there to listen to the chit-chat, believing it was another one of Lynn's darkly advances.

Lynn poked her pinkies together in such a child-like manner, twiddling them. "Suppose there is someone who's doing bad things, and no one but only one other person knew what they were doing, would it be successful or pointless for them to try and help the bad person?"

He raised an eyebrow, albeit curious about the context. "What's the, uhhh, story behind this? Lucy showing you one of her novellas?"

Lynn half opened her mouth, showing her upper row of teeth. "...Yeah, that's it. It just got me wondering something."

Lincoln made a handgun with his fingers and pressed it against his chin. "Hmmm... Well, I don't see why you seem to be worried about such a thing. If there was such a person, and they couldn't stop, you would have to, I don't know, find help. One person alone is not enough to handle this bad guy by themselves. That's my answer."

Lucy's pale skin sank in a tone of numbing coldness, shaken by Lincoln's superior answer. It made her re-think the path she was taking. All she did, all that she would do to protect Lynn, and the little shit was going around and doing damage as she pleased. It wasn't working, and they were already this far to the point Lynn might've actually gone as far as to kill someone.

It would never work for this long, with the covering of Lynn's tracks and the mental torture Lucy would have to take until the end, and the end meant one of them having to fall. And that end was-

 **Now**

"You come here, talking down to me about sense, but you had none yourself." The thoughts of Lucy being Lynn's secret little helper was an ironic touch that Lynn couldn't help but laugh for. "A smart person would have gone to mommy and daddy. That was your mistake, and you cannot make me culpable for this. Lola, Lori, Luan- That wasn't on me, Luce."

The words Lynn spoke were true. Lucy sobbed and sniffed, trying to deny the inevitable truth. "No, no, no! I- You- You made me-"

"I didn't make you try to cover for me! Make up your mind! Are you helping me or stopping me?!"

"I didn't know what you'd show me Lincoln touching himself like that! I didn't think you were, like, in love with him or something!"

Lynn stepped back. "Do you know why?"

"Why what?" Lucy's face streamed with tears, still stung from her sliced hand.

"Do you know why I picked you? You, and not any of the others?"

There it was, a question Lucy had not come across. Was there really a reason why, and not something random? Why her? And after all this time, the answer could finally be unveiled by the mastermrind herself. "No... I don't know what goes on in your head anymore."

"I chose you because..." Lynn, for once since the beginning, took a deep shaky breath. "We were close, and not just by bed distance. I mean, I've felt you and I were close enough. Didn't you?"

Lucy's mind raced to the memory of the altercation they had a while back, starting with toothpaste. The tiny feud lasted for over a day, and it was Lincoln's power move that reverted the bond between them back to its original state, only stronger. That Lynn Loud, that was who Lucy wanted back. "I was close to the old you! You've changed, and-"

"You kept your mouth shut again. And I know the real reason why, when you still can't even come up with an answer, let alone think the right thoughts."

"W-what?"

"You're afraid. You're afraid of losing me."

Lucy stuttered. "I-"

"And yet, at the same time, you're just as afraid of me as well. Poor little Lucy, confused what do to."

"No, I'm not afraid of you!" Lucy yelled back.

"Then why are you crying?" Lynn asked, chuckling. "The whole goth personality can only go so far. After all you're only human."

"U-unlike you! You killed Lola, our sister!"

Lynn scoffed. "Yeah, well, she's an annoying brat. She had it coming, so don't act like you adored her."

Lucy waved a finger towards the knocked out Lori. "A-and her? What did she ever to you?"

Lynn shook her head. "Why did you two come here and bring her? What did you tell them? How much do they know?"

"Me and Lola spilled it on Lori only. But they know you killed Ronnie Anne and they're going to be desperate. You can't kill Lori and you can't kill me..."

Lynn shook her head. "If Lola wasn't dead, I could get away with this. But I dare not leave with Lincoln's-"

That told Lucy what was likely to happen to the other two. She didn't want to die, and especially not st the hands of a maniac like Lynn. The hand ached hard, and even shaking it was painful enough. Lucy made a face of fury, overcoming it with such a straining growl. She tightened her hand, guaranteeing some further damage to the palm, but with all her might, Lucy swung her arm and let the broken cell fly towards Lynn. It was an all-or-nothing quick move that was not certain to pave way for Lucy's escape.

The cell ended up striking right in Lynn's bottom jaw, developing a scrape under her lip. She was too fragile and slow to even sense it coming, a con of being zombified to such extreme measure. She set her hands to protect her body, believing Lucy was going to engage in a fight. How silly the tables turned as quickly as Lucy bounced back up and began moving towards the entrance of the Santiago household. She wasn't even thinking of Lori's safety at the moment.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Lucy found herself at the kitchen and hid behind the row of cabinets, the only thing she was able to use as cover from the seeking Lynnatic. She couldn't simply run straight out without being caught up to by Lynn. The time to open the door would for sure be against her, so Lucy carefully opened some cabinets.

Lynn really felt the phone hit her teeth. On impact, her gums bled a little, only managing to anger the bony jock. She peered into the hall and inspected the front door. Good, it wasn't open. Goth was still in there with her.

Lucy had no way out but had only found a kitchen knife and held it near firmly in front of her. Both arms could not handle the challenge to hold it steady. If Lynn was going to make Lucy use it, who knew what would happen?

The time came quickly, as Lucy was hyperventilating, attracting the murderious jock to her location. Lynn came from behind and wrapped her cold, killing hands on Lucy's black hair. The back of her head struck against the cabinets, disorienting her. Lynn jumped right in front of her, intending to finish what ahe started. "Not so fast!"

Lucy lost grip on the kitchen knife, and it was snatched away from Lynn. "N-n-n-"

"No? No, what?"

Lucy had more than enough now, but Lynn was still incomplete with satisfaction. "Killing you will be the second best thing."

"S-second?"

Lynn smiled and giggled. "What did you think I did to Lincoln's corpse after he died?" She ran her tongue around her lips and pressed her hands to her cheeks, blushing like a schoolgirl. "I had him all to myself, and it was magical. I can't get enough of him!"

Lucy had the sudden urge to vomit intensely, piecing together that Lynn had probably performed necrophilia onto the rotting body that was once Lincoln Loud. "Y-you're disgusting!"

"You mean, we're disgusting," she corrected. "They're going to hate you if you live through this. How are you gonna run back home and tell them what happened here, when you shouldn't even know that me and him are here."

"B-but Lola, she-"

"I think she's in the clear. She didn't act at all before I ran away with Lincoln, plus she's dead now. Dead so that you can fall by yourself. Become just as bad as me, Luce, or maybe worse..."

"B-but, no- if-" Lucy was somehow finding herself in utmost concern for her own reputation, for a reason she couldnt explain, and it proved higher than worrying for her own safety. "I'm not going down with you!"

"Why do you care so much about making things perfect? That's what I wanna know." Lynn had not understood what exactly compelled the goth to go down a road, to protect and save Lynn, and for why it was. Was it actually due to something selfish in nature? Maybe Lucy felt she needed to-

"Oh... OH. NO! OH MY GOD, LUCY! ARE YOU- ARE YOU FOR REAL?!" Lynn finally figured it out, and Lucy had only yet to accept the only fact she tried to bury under the surface. It made sense, but it didn't in some aspects. It wasn't higher than Lynn's crazy amount of love, but Lucy had been hopelessly crushing on her mature, older brother. And that itself was too humiliating to even be related to that blood.

"S-shut up!"

"I see it now! You did all of this to make yourself look like a caring sister, and not just the emotionally depraved goth we all know and love! Ha, that's funny!"

"You forget that Lori is still here, and she will stop you. It'll be just moments-" Lucy then stopped as Lynn took out a empty water bottle. It was somewhat orange, and not fully transparent.

"Unless she'll forget when she wakes up, which she will. All that leaves is you answering for everything. And there is... Absolutely... No... Way... Out!"

It was over. Lynn had won this war. Now she didn't need to remain any longer. Unlike Lucy, Lynn didn't care about how she was seen. This made her capable to go to any length to succeed in her mission, and the current objective had just been completed.

"I know I said I was going to kill you," she furthered. "But I see now that you deserve an ultimatum. Whatever happens to me doesn't matter anymore. I'm already dead, but you, you can choose. The option are to live but have the entire family tree hate you, or die with a false idea of yourself you'll only be remembered by."

"W-what? N-no!" Lucy regained a new overwhelming force of fear. She had no upper hand, especially with the knife wielding lunatic in front of her. "You're gonna kill me, I know it!"

Lynn chuckled lightly, and then burst out laughing. "That's what you'd like, right? Avoid the shame and run to heaven, or wherever it is you'll end up at. It's so adorable, but no, Luce, I'm not gonna kill you." Lynn deposited the knife back to Lucy's hands, and stepped back. "Now..."

Lucy grabbed it and extended both arms, trying to steady her hands. She grit her teeth and became more than aggravated, now having more than enough of a reason to get out alive and to come up with a plan rather fast.

"...Make your choice!"

* * *

 **AN: I don't know, I really don't know what to do with this. Because I've unintentionally neglected this fic for so long, I've lost most of my mental notes I've established already. If only I actually wrote them down. I'm not sure what I was going exactly but I can't actually accept to toss away an unfinished work, so I must do this to the end. And that end shall be in the next chapter. No, I'm not expecting this chapter to be too good. Ah... I feel like I failed my Lord Darko up to here, in all honesty.**

 **Oh well.**


	8. Irredeemable

**Years Back**

It was odd to her at first. She was the youngest of a set of five daughters, and she came out the year Lori had enough of being around babies. Not that the elder blonde daughter disliked them. But she was too used to them crying and whining. Them, being Luna, Luan and Lynn. Lori had no real problem with Leni, mainly because Lori was still an infant when Leni came into existence.

No, they had never once spend time together. From Leni and below, the sisters enjoyed the ecstatic Lynn, who slowly grew a love for all things sports related.

It was Lynn who brought upon the hobbies they came to love in present time; Leni was always showing Lynn how to dress girly, but the future jock would fancy jerseys and shorts over them. Leni changed her target, but grew to love fashion.

For Luna, her love for playing music had come from playing around with any object she could find and bang them on the walls or floor in a rhythm beat, all for an effort to make Lynn dance, despite it being goofy. It was also adorable, and Luan and Leni would show off their own puppy eyes when they saw Lynn go at it.

Sporty baby laughed, giggled, and moved her feet with the same enthusiasm.

That went short-lived, and the growing child wasn't given the baby treatment as much.

Things further changed when Lynn really got into playing sports. The downside was there really wasn't anyone to play with. Leni would turn her down for safety reasons, Luna said no because there was no music or instruments involved, and Luan was down if she practiced her itty-bitty dumb jokes on Lynn. And Lynn herself didn't agree to that.

Rita tried that once with Lynn, but it ended up with a Soccer ball to her chest. The man of the manor himself valued his life too much to play crash test dummy to his daughter. But he did try, out of all of them, and led their activities. It was only a few times that he and Lynn did the one activity together that eventually bored her and made her discontinue it.

The activity was running. Down the block. Around the park. Even once, they ventured into the woods. Running. Walking. Same time next week.

It bored Lynn, really. But daddy dearest figured he'd tire her out, and that was his true goal all along. Not that he hated doing that, but the father of five had sufficient family members on his plate, and had one job, and so did the missus.

Lincoln had been born already, and Lori advanced to the next level of grumpy cat.

None of them were expecting a boy, so there was that for a nice surprise. Leni, Luna and Luan took turns holding him and making him laugh. With the streak broken of a child entering in a year interval, it was freaky for the three. Lynn didn't understand the concept yet, but she didn't think much of it anyway.

She was there behind them when they were hogging around the child for his affection. "Look at him, he's so adorable!"

"I just wanna pinch his cute little cheeks!"

"His hair is a little white! Is that, like, normal?"

Lynn was the shortest of the group. She closed in and tiptoed over Luan's shoulder. "Can I see him?"

They didn't just let her see him, but Lynn was placed to hold him. Before that, she had not held him once.

The baby gooed cheerfully, almost like Lincoln was happy to see Lynn was caring like that. Lynn returned one of her own. "Hello, I am big sister Lynn!"

Then, it occurred in her child mind that Lincoln was a guy. A boy, a brother- Was he the one to match Lynn or let alone be the sibling to last her?

"And we will play when you're old enough", she promised the infant. "My little Linky."

 **Now**

"What kind of choice is that?!" She couldn't keep the kitchen knife steady, for the life of her. She wasn't expecting this to be a mental chess game in the least bit of sense.

Lori would wake up with no memory on how she got there or why. And worse, the dead body of a twin would be there to greet her. And surely, she'd call the cops, mom and dad, all while Lucy would be the one to answer for it. Well, Lucy did have a choice, and it was not the best one in all the world.

Life, or death.

"The choice I first made before coming to this," Lynn answered.

"W-what? What do you mean by that?" Lucy drew confusion, wondering what Lynn referred to. "What do you mean?!"

 **That Day**

Lori was the one who agreed to it, doing it out of love and csre for her only brother. Sure, she wasn't always the loving sister, but the heart was still there. And she was bleeding it out heavily during the trip to Chicago.

Lincoln was to see Ronnie Anne again, but Lori had plans that night, so she couldn't stay to be around Bobby Boo-Boo Bear. Since she couldn't play babysitter this one time, someone else had to accompany him. And that someone else happened to be none other than Lynn.

"I can't wait to see her! Lincoln exclaimed happily.

"You'd better take selfies, twerp. You know, so I can see them."

Lynn appeared to be worlds away, tuning out to her own music. But it was just an act, and all she was doing is pumping herself up for tonight. The two had brought over sleeping bags, with the plan to stay over for the night. Lynn brought an extra item; it was a pocketknife, a souvenir from Pop-Pop he only kept out of respect.

Lynn found herself shaken and nervous at her own scheme. Ronnie Anne, another foul succubus who poisoned her sweet knight, had to go down. Ronnie Anne moving away wasn't enough to break Lincoln's feelings towards her.

"I'll try," he laughed. Knowing Ronnie Anne, it might be something of a challenge.

While Lincoln and Lynn planned the different stages of the sleepover, Lucy remained concealed in the trunk area. She laid flat like a corpse, arms formed into an X. Her breaths were slowed to avoid Lynn's detection. Her own plan was to ensure nothing bad would happen. At whatever the cost and punishment might be, it would be worth it if the sleepover went just as planned. .

Lynn could not be trusted around Lincoln, and that was proven time and time again.

That, and Lucy could meet Ronnie Anne officially.

Lori had gotten off the highway once they've reached Chicago. It was only one block away after the exit that they got to the Casagrande residence. "Alright, we're here."

Lucy timed it just right and plucked open the trunk from inside. She spun out of there, landed on her feet and dashed out just a she heard Lori groan. "This stupid van is literally a hundred years old!"

From a good distance, she kept an eye on them. Pretty soon, Lori drove off, and Lincoln led Lynn inside the old, yellow building. Lucy would wait five to ten minutes before heading inside. There was nothing else do to but to see how the city was. The streets weren't too full, and some kids were actually playing basketball just down the street, a sight never seen in Royal Woods.

She directed over the other side of the street after a full two minutes has passed. Her phone was at 97% as of yet, and she'd have to make it last until she got back to a charger, or at least until the night.

At four minutes of waiting, Lucy inhaled deeply and headed back across. It was all but a nice surprise to find that Lincoln, Lynn, and Ronnie Anne were visible through the glass doors. Lucy gasped and strutted away from them.

Not even fifteen minutes in this weird city, and already the two guests were out to explore it with their Mexican city guide. But Lucy noticed something else. Lynn and Ronnie Anne, hanging together; that was way off in Lynn's nature. Something under the surface was going on alright, and Lucy got the idea that Lynn was planning something against Ronnie Anne.

 **Now**

"Ronnie Anne was where I really crossed the line," Lynn explained. "It was gonna be you, but you beat me where you didn't expect me to come. But enough of this!" She stomped on a leg and pointed right at Lucy. "What's it gonna be? Decide!"

Lucy could try to attack Lynn, but there was no guarantee it would work. Scrawny jock was still too much for the feeble goth. She could throw the knife at her, but could it land and stick right into Lynn? Fighting it... Fighting her again. So far, Lucy hadn't gotten anywhere.

The puzzle was unsolved, Lynn had claimed victory to her sick game, and...

"I can't!" Lucy had been exposed. The feeling while being around Lincoln, it was... Not of a sisterly based sensation. How could she have? How could Lynn see through her, when Lucy hadn't narrowed it down to this level.

What was it? What was the real reason Lucy had come along this inevitable journey? Was it the fear of losing her sister? Them both? Was it to no longer be invisible among her fsmily, which was pure selfishness? Change? Was it to preserve and keep things as they were?

The journal. The reports of Lynn's action. The secret Lucy chose to keep; one that needed to get out. The fear of being the family outcast.

"Oh, my God... I-" Lucy turned the knife on her, now fully understanding what was and what should never have been. "It is, isn't it? It's all my fault..."

"Yes..." Lynn urged on. "Now you choose. Live with the consequences, or die to escape your own sins."

She trembeld less now, and then jammed the knife into her stomach.

 **That Night**

The trio went everywhere around the city. Hotdog stands, a shitty arcade, a park bigger than that of Royal Woods' own, and the list didn't stop there. Ronnie Anne had saved up for this day it seemed, and together with the money Lincoln had saved from the many allowances since the day they planned it to this very day, they had only spent half of it.

Lucy was amazed at how long it took Lincoln to gather so much without spending much. Hell, maybe Lincoln didn't spend anything at all during the time period. She had already been hungry by the time it got dark, and the trio had just exited a movie theater.

"Sigh..." Lucy wished she had revealed herself earlier. Tracking them for so long, and Lynn hadn't tried anything funny. She appeared to be having a great time with the lovebirds, rather odd in Lucy's eyes. "Hmmm..."

They were talking instinctively, and Lucy, acting as the well concealed ninja she could have been, scurried along the sidewalk close behind them, perfectly concealed within the shadows. They hadn't spotted her yet, but the one who would likely notice her was Lynn.

Lucy had to reveal herself before they returned to Ronnie Anne's, for it would be rather inconvenient to knock and explain herself to strangers.

It was going rather well so far, but somewhere during the long walk back did Lucy develop those disheartening, dreadful sensations again; the trio came across a construction site, where a building had gone past the first phase of construction. Lynn pointed to the empty site and recommended they take a shortcut.

The two lovebirds didn't think much of it and simply agreed to following Lynn. All Ronnie Anne wanted was to get home in the fastest way possible, and since she hadn't mastered all routes and shortcuts in this city, she was open to Lynn's suggestion. They didn't know they were being led into Lynn's deathly trap.

The site was not like the way you'd see them in movies; three bulldozers, a steamroller and some other equipment slept there for the night. Multiple dirt mounts and a maze of wood walls set out to cover the entire area, and only barely visible due to a pair of night lights in the dead center.

That was where Lynn was leading the two to. Right underneath those very lights.

Then, Lynn stopped and turned to them. She said something. Lucy didn't make out what it was exactly that she said. Ronnie Anne's body made a resonse; she jerked back, almost like Lynn had thrown at rock at her feet. Maybe the jock said something harsh.

Lincoln stepped in between them, and that gave Lucy the impression Lynn was starting a fight.

Finally, some disturbance. That was Lucy's cue to jump in. And she was now running toward them.

Then, a bloodcurdling scream that could come from no other but Ronnie Anne's own mouth. Lucy didn't see what happened exactly, but she witnessed the Mexican girl stumble for a few steps, holding her stomach. At first, Lucy assumed Lynn had delivered quite a gut-wrenching blow to her, but in Lynn's hand was an object that sparkled visibly.

It was a pocketknife.

Lucy found herself frozen right after she made full sense of the commotion; the downed girl hadn't been punched, but stabbed.

Lincoln had only a couple of seconds to react. He got down to his knees before Lynn performed her signature choke-hold on him while still holding the blade. The weapon's victim squirmed around horrendously, making nothing but gagging sounds.

"L-LYNN!" Lincoln was only able to squeeze out that word from his lips before Lynn drove him to an early sleep.

What Lynn did next was out of Lucy's reach; she lifted Lincoln on her shoulders, wearing him like a towel. She took off running the other way, completely avoiding what she had just done to Ronnie Anne. Speaking of...

Lucy didn't know how long she had been a statue for. It scared her in a whole new level. Sure, Lynn had a secret strength to her, but this, this beat the cake by a long shot. Lucy made a daring first step. She expected Lynn to jump out and surprise her, but it didn't happen. Yet.

She made another step. Nothing happened.

She made more, until she found herself standing over Ronnie Anne. It wasn't Ronnie Anne any longer, but rather a corpse. A real life corpse Lucy had never seen before. It wasn't beautiful, nor mesmerising, but disturbing and truly the art of trauma. Her purple sweater had been left with a gush of blood on the bottom, and it graduated to surround her body.

But the thing that really frightened Lucy was the look on Ronnie Anne's face; full of fear, and forever damned to die never knowing why. Her eyes were still opened, and Lucy wanted to close them, but she could not.

She was afraid just as Ronnie Anne had been.

"No... Lynn..."

The night kept going. The moon hung high, and the fair city was still alive behind her. Sooner or later, this would get out, and God forbid her own loved ones looking down at her. Everything. Everything mattered. All she had to do in the first place was simple, and yet...

 **Now**

...She chose to keep quiet. Quiet. She was always the quiet goth. The one time she needed to be heard, and she decided against this. She earned this, for she brought it on herself. She deserved it, she deserved it.

If she thought of it enough times, she could have actually believed it.

The bony Lynn was rather pleased with the results, smiling without remorse or empathy in Lucy's suicidal decision. "Attagirl."

She didn't question why Lynn wasn't running away. Maybe the psycho wanted to see Lucy die with her own eyes. Did it matter? She won. She-

There was something more. Something else Lucy wasn't seeing.

Whatever it was, it really didn't matter up to this point. The goth had fallen over and had ruptured an organ or two, painfully pinned by the edge of the knife. She didn't dare move a muscle, even as it was that itching and irresistible to hold still with the damn thing in her system. It was cold as he'll, and wiggling only made her feel totally uncomfortable.

How could she have known this was death? Was this even death anyway? Perhaps, if Lisa was around...

Her hands circled around the knife, and all she could feel was the passing liquid she knew was her own blood flowing out. It felt less gross than she imagined, but that was probably due to her not seeing the blood up close.

Lucy hadn't lost consciousness yet. She was still made to be Lynn's only audience member.

"Hey, still up?" Lynn leaned down to study her. Lucy's bangs still covered her eyes near perfectly, but Lynn brushed them away. "Yeah, you are. It won't take long to bleed out, Lucy."

Lucy began to drift.

"But Lori... Will she have time to wake up and escape before I burn this house down?"

That got the goth's attention. She centered her eyes on Lynn, wondering what she had planned to set in motion. "W-what?"

It was dreadfully painful to talk, but Lucy had some strength to do it with her dying body.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Another sick Lynn game, no doubt about it. "I'm gonna burn this house down, along with me and Lincoln's body in it. And you have another set of three choices; die here as I burn this place down, or you can save Lori and die out there, or you can run and die wherever fate decides you'll die. Better choose quickly." And with that, Lynn began to turn on the stoves.

Lucy couldn't believe such a thing. Save Lori... Or die and become charcoal remains. Die along with her. "Sh-She didn't-"

"One minute!"

Lucy couldn't. She was reeling it in. Lucy had to. This one... This one was preventable! This one was well within Lucy's grasp! She couldn't save Lynn .She couldn't save Lincoln. And she couldn't save Lola. But Lori. There was still time for her.

Lucy slid her fingers to the knife's handle. She gently gripped, squeezed, and began pulling it upwards. "Ungh!"

She had to. Just one, at least just one. Her mess. _I... Have to... Make-_

It felt like some fat object was wriggling inside of her when she moved toward Lori. She was losing blood faster than she had been when laying down, and Lucy was already beginning to feel dizzy. Blood loss. "D-dang!"

She found Lori, still out of the game. The teen was more than twice Lucy's size and weight. No way she could manage that. Man, they didn't call it a Lynn challenge for nothing.

Lucy reached for the blonde sister's feet, and then began tugging away at the lifeless sibling. With all her energy, she had to do it. The smell of gas had quckly spread around the house by then, and Lynn was contentedly watching them, snickering sinisterly at Lucy. "Only the strong win!"

Lucy dragged Lori to the front door, where she opened it. After that, she fell right and over the porch, falling down on the short concrete pathway. She was still dripping blood as of yet, unleashing a trail of it since back then. She got more giddy, and developed the vomit sensation. She didn't know how wounds worked, but she suspected she would have gagged out blood. And that she did.

 _I'm... Almost there..._ All she had left was just a bit more to rescue Lori. Lynn was standing in the doorway, hovering over the unconscious sister.

"Time is ticking," she advised, holding a lighter in her hand. "Twenty... Nineteen... Eighteen..."

Lucy picked herself up again. She wasn't going to give up so easily this time. She wasn't going to look the other way. And she was not as hell going to remain silent or do nothing. Not this time. No more.

She went to finish her only mission she had. Her hands wrapped around Lori's ankles this time, and Lucy began to tug with all she had. She got to the porch part and had to carry Lori from her upper body half to avoid head damage.

It didn't matter that Lucy got her nice girdle-top all bloody now, or that she lost way more blood than she had just seconds ago.

Now, Lori was laying in the grass, due to return back to the land of the living. And all while Lucy dropped on her knees and fell besides her.

"I guess you win, Lucy. Haha, you sure did, this time." Lynn closed the door of the Santiago's home and there was only a few seconds of voluntary silence before the explosion rumbled the neighborhood. The house had now turned into a fiery inferno, consuming everything inside, including Lynn herself, and the two dead bodies that were once Lincoln and Lola.

And that was it. No more of them. And no more of dear old Lucy Loud.

Lucy rapidly faded into the night. The last thing she saw was the moon, and the sky, with its coating of countless stars. It was beautiful, if anything. And she, in a way, got to see it with a sister she could never imagine hanging out with in general. It didn't matter that the downside was that Lori wasn't awake, but she was there. Lucy's big sister.

She died alongside her, at the same time Lynn probably did. And she did so with a smile. That oughtta scare the living daylights outta her, at the very least. And that was good emough for her.

Maybe in another time, another life, she could redo her errors to undo them. Whenever that was, needless to say. But it wasnt anytime soon, and she'd wait for however long it would take.

And she'd begin now. At least... At least Lori was safe. And all Lucy could be, was happy.

* * *

 **AN: Thus concludes this fic that definitely needed more to it. That's it. Lucy dies. Go home everyone.**

 **Maybe next time I'll do better with one of these. See you.**


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